The Inevitable
by IsirisRose
Summary: A Jori fanfic! Jade just couldn't take it anymore. She had to do something, even if it didn't turn out for her, if she didn't do something soon, it would just continue to eat her from the inside out.
1. Prologue

AN: This is my first time writing a Jori fanfic or even a Victorious fanfic, so I apologize if the characters are a little OOC. Also, I'm already writing the next chapter, and that should be up soon. We'll see how this goes. Anyways, enjoy!

* * *

It had been eating Jade up for quite a long time. These feelings she had for Tori Vega. At first she assumed it was jealousy. Vega was very talented, and as much as it killed her to admit it, it was completely true. It didn't hurt to add that the first time they met face to face was when she caught Vega rubbing her boyfriend. But what she had come to realize over the past few weeks was that it wasn't jealousy that Tori could steal Beck from her. Even though there were endless reasons for this to be the case. Namely, she was just as talented as Jade, and a whole lot nicer to be around. No, it was really that she was jealous that Vega was rubbing Beck… and not Jade.

So after this epiphany that she had – after she had finally broken up with Beck for good – she proceeded to go through the stage of denial, then anger, then some more denial, until she finally ended up here; acceptance. So she accepted the fact that she may have blurred the line of hate and love a bit and was really just trying to mask her feelings the whole time, and it had been eating her up for about a week. She liked Vega. A lot. She needed to do something about it, or else it would kill her and as much as she loved horror movies and scissors and especially The Scissoring, she would rather the same not happen to her… or at least not _that_ kind of scissoring.

Jade had decided that despite her blunt nature, the fact that she had no idea what Vega was feeling in all of this required a certain delicacy in the handling of this situation. So the goal was to get Vega to notice her, but not to be too obvious that Jade really liked Vega. She guessed she had better start with calling her by her first name. Then again she was Jade West, and she made her own rules.


	2. Chapter 1

Monday morning came and Jade rolled out of bed with a yawn and a bit of excitement. If she could finally get rid of this feeling eating her up inside, it would be so much better. She carefully dressed in black skinny jeans and a black tank top with a red plaid shirt layered over top. Her combat boots were the last things she put on before she bounded down the steps of her house and into the kitchen, where her Mom was making breakfast.

"Sweetie, you're ready early! Anything particular happening at school today?" While Jade didn't have the best relationship with her father, her mother happened to be very supportive of her choices and they had a great relationship. Though she never let anyone at school know that.

"Uh, not particularly mom…. But I can't talk right now. I got to get to school. There are … things … I need to do." Jade grabbed an apple and then rushed out before her mom could say anything. Jade was way too nervous about what she was planning to talk to her mom about it. She didn't want to think too hard in case she lost her nerve. So, she buckled into her sleek black 1968 Mustang convertible, and made her way to school, but of course grabbing a cup of coffee on the way. While in line at Jet Brew she noticed Cat, or it could be better said, that Cat noticed her. "Jaaaadddeee! Hi hi!"

"Cat." Although it was almost painful to have to deal with Cat this early without any coffee in her system yet, it was necessary. Cat had some answers that she needed.

"Jade! You know, one time my brother–"

"Cat! I need to ask you something!"

"Kay kay!"

"What's Vega's favourite colour?"

"OH! I know I know!" Cat bounced up and down and Jade rolled her eyes.

"Well?!" she sniped.

"What?" Cat asked.

"Ugh," Jade let out a long sigh, "What. Is. Tori's. Favourite. Colour?" It was frustrating to deal with Cat, but she had to know.

"Oh! It's red." Another sigh was let out by Jade.

"No Cat, that's your favourite colour."

"No it's not!"

"Yes it is!"

"No! My favourite colour is red velvet! Tori's favourite colour is red."

"Oh. Okay then. What does she like in her coffee?"

"Tori doesn't drink coffee. But you know, one time my brother drank coffee except he said it was a new flavour and that's why it was yel–"

"Cat! I don't want to hear about your brother! I want to know what Vega likes to drink!" She was just going to have to guess because her patience with Cat was quickly wearing thin. Okay think. If you were Vega, and you didn't like coffee, what would you drink? What do pretty white girls usually get to drink from a café? Or what would a pretty half Latina get?

"Ah ha!" Jade exclaimed.

"Ahhh!" A high pitch squeal came from Cat not long after.

She knew exactly what Vega probably drank. She smirked as she finally made it to the front of the line.

"Hi how may I help you today?"

"You can get me a large coffee with two sugars, and a medium Chai Tea latte."

"Oooh I love Chai Tea latte's Jade, can I have one?"

"Of course you do Cat… and no you may not. I didn't come here to buy _you_ something. So get out of my face!"

Even though she had planned to be nicer to Vega today, she couldn't completely drop her snarky attitude, especially if she was planning on holding back for the sake of getting Vega to notice her.

"Jade! Jade!"

"WHAT?"

"Will you take me to school? My bike hit a car yesterday and it's not feeling good. So can you?"  
"How did you get – you know what? I don't want to know. Fine. I'll take you to school."

"YAY!" Cat proceeded to throw her arms around Jade much too tightly. Well being hugged at all was much more than Jade wanted. Unless it was Tori. Yeah, she could hug Tori all day. Ugh. She needed to shake these thoughts. Vega was probably straight and crushing over Beck right now.

"NO! Cat I swear, if you don't let go right now I'll get my scissors and let's just say Mr. Purples won't be quite so happy…" Jade smirked at Cat with an evil glint in her eye as Cat quickly released her.

"Ahh! Jade don't!"

"Well then. If you don't want to make sad you need to remember what I told you. And that is?"

"I can't eat Bibble any more?"

"NO! Well yes, I mean that you can't hug me. Especially before I've had my coffee or while I'm drinking my coffee."

"But Jaaaaaddeee! You're always drinking coffee!"

"Exactly. Now Cat, I need you to wait right here. I'm just going to go to the bathroom and then we'll go to school. Okay? Stay right here."

"Kay kay!" She twirled in the spot and looked around dazedly. Jade supposed she would be okay, but grabbed her two cups with her just in case. They were precious cargo after all.

Once in the bathroom, she opened her messenger bag and found her red extensions. She had put in a few different colour in her bag, waiting to find out what Vega's favourite colour was so she could properly coordinate. It was lucky she ended up wearing her red plaid shirt today. That could have been a disaster. She placed them in and made sure they looked as natural as possible with the rest of her hair. She looked at herself in the mirror and wondered why she didn't wear this colour more often. Red was the colour of blood after all – something she really loved – and now if it was Vega's favourite colour too, she might consider dying some of her hair like this permanently.

She quickly made her way to the front of the coffee shop, not wanting to leave Cat alone for too long. Just as she thought, Cat was telling her tales of her brother to the kid making coffee who looked like he didn't know whether Cat was crazy or trying some insane attempt at flirting. She yelled at Cat to follow her, and swiftly made her way out to the car, finally on her way to school.

After the frustratingly long time it took to deal with Cat at the coffee shop, they made it to Hollywood Arts not as early as Jade would have liked, but early enough that there weren't too many students around, and it seemed Vega had just made it to her locker. Perfect. There was no one around and Cat had already wandered off to who knows where.

"Veg-Victoria!" Jade yelled. Tori it seemed, was not used to being called Victoria, because she simply ignored Jade. But Jade made her own rules, so she stomped a little faster, and thrust Tori's latte in her face and said, "Victoria. I brought you this. The coffee shop messed up my order or something. So here!"

Tori seemed a little surprised, but gingerly took the latte a small smile on her face as she sniffed it and took a hesitant sip.

"Oh! A chai tea latte! I love these! Thanks Jade!" Jade smirked but hid it well, turning her face a bit away from Vega. She knew it! It was so typical.

"Wait. Did you just call me Victoria?"

"Yeah! What of it? I can call you what I want!"

"Um uh right! Sorry, it's just no one really calls me that." She said with a smile. Always that gorgeous smile. Focus Jade!

"Yeah, well, now someone does!"

"Right. Hey! I like your hair, the red really looks good on you!"

Jade's heart sped up a bit. She was smiling huge on the inside, but on the outside there was only a hint of it.

"Thanks. Um red is one of my favourite colours." Jade tried to say smoothly.

"Really!? Mine too!" Tori jumped in excitement.

"I know." It slipped out before Jade knew it and Tori gave her a weird look. "Well, Victoria, um I gotta go um… cut some things." She said and brandished her newest pair of scissors.

"Oh um bye Jade. Thanks for the latte!"

"Whatever. I mean… you're welcome… Victoria."

She swiftly walked away before her face lit up in complete embarrassment, not that she really knew what she was embarrassed for. But it was Vega, and she was bound to say something mean if she hung around for too much longer. Besides, she had more things planned. Although if she had stuck around, or at least looked back in that moment, she would have seen a smirk creep across Tori's face and a small mischievous glint in her eye.


	3. Chapter 2

Tori liked Jade. She had for a while now. Actually, if she was completely honest with herself, she had liked Jade from the first time she met her, but by this point she was very good at hiding it. After all, Jade hadn't noticed and neither had anyone else, and that is quite a feat with the kind of friends she had. Especially Andre. How he hadn't noticed that she tried her best to get rid of his crush on Jade because she really saw him as competition was completely beyond her. But then again, I guess he was pretty preoccupied with Jade and taking her suggestion to write a song to get over her, a song that she had written most of the lyrics to.

So this morning came as a bit of a surprise to her. It seemed Jade was being a bit nicer to her than usual. She had decided that she would try to make some sort of a move on Jade now that her and Beck were broken up again and it seemed like it was for good this time. At least, that's what she assumed from carefully observing the way they interacted with each other. That and the fact that Jade hadn't come crying to her and asking her to get them back together again. She was a bit disappointed at first that Jade hadn't come to her for any advice, but then decided that she didn't really mind. Not if it kept her from Beck longer, thus giving Tori the opportunity to move in on Jade. But there was still the fact that the whole time she knew Jade she had only ever seen her date Beck… who was a boy. So the likelihood of Jade liking girls and Tori no less, seemed a bit too unlikely, but worth a try nonetheless. If she was to ever get over her feelings for Jade, she would have to try. Staying where she was now was killing her, especially since there was really nothing holding Tori back except maybe not wanting to be the star of one of Jade's reenactments of The Scissoring. Jade's comment about the pretty one being killed first came back into her mind and she shuddered. Okay so letting Jade know about her feelings was maybe not the greatest idea in the world, but she was willing to risk it. Jade was worth that after all. But maybe just coming out and saying it was not the best idea ever.

She decided that she would just have to play the field a bit and see if anything good could come out of the mood Jade seemed to be in today. It was weird that Jade decided to start calling her Victoria this morning though. No one called her that and when she heard Jade's voice yelling out that name this morning, she had ignored it, thinking Jade was mad at some poor girl for something. Turns out she was the girl, and Jade wasn't mad at her for once. She had come over to give her a Chai Tea latte. That was weird in itself. What kind of coffee shop accidentally made a tea latte instead of just a normal coffee? And the size was different too! Whatever, this was Jade and Jade was always a little hard to understand. But it was something that Tori liked about her. Although it did make it kind of harder to figure out what Jade was really thinking and whether she would have any interest in her and maybe becoming something more that just friends. She would just have to ask Jade about her name change at lunch or something.

She finally tuned into what her English teacher was talking about, but then realized that they only had five minutes left of class and got excited. Jade was in her next class. She barely stopped at her locker to drop off her books, and quickly weaved her way through the hallways excited to see Jade again and to put her new plan in motion.

When she got to her next class, which just so happened to be Sikowitz's Jade was already there. It wasn't weird that Jade was there rather early considering she was usually late for her classes, but rather what was weird about that was that she wasn't sitting in her normal seat. She was instead, sitting next to Cat, in the front row nonetheless. Next to the seat that Tori herself would normally sit in.

"Hey Cat. Jadelyn." Tori said with a smirk. This was perfect! She could now observe Jade and try to figure out what was up with her without her really knowing.

"Tori! Hi hi! Did you like your Chai latte? I love those! Jade said she wouldn't get me one this morning though. She said she didn't go to the coffee shop to get me anything."

"CAT!"

Tori could see a slight red tint to Jade's face, but that wasn't completely abnormal. Jade sometimes got a little red in the face when she was mad. Did Jade really go to the coffee shop just to get her a latte this morning? And why wouldn't she get Cat one too? Actually getting Cat a latte probably wasn't a good idea anyways. Who knows how hyper and bouncy she would be then. She just dismissed it. The coffee shop probably did mess up and she didn't want to ruin Jade's seemingly good mood.

"I actually did enjoy my latte this morning Cat thank you. It's lucky the coffee shop made a mistake this morning because I totally needed something to help wake me up. Trina kept me up late last night with some weird new beauty treatment she heard of. She wouldn't let me go to sleep until I helped her." Not a peep from Jade. Not even a "No one likes your sister." Okay Jade was just acting weird!

"One time, my brother–"

"NO!" Ah, there's the Jade we all know and love.

"So Jade." Jade turned her attention back to Tori. Was that a nervous glance she saw?

"Yes Victoria? What do you want?"

"Why are you sitting here?"

"What you don't want me to sit here? I thought you wanted to be my friend!"

"NO! I mean, no, it's not that. It's just you usually don't sit in the front row. That's all."

"Yeah well, Beck's back there… and you smell nice." Jade mumbled the last bit and probably thought Tori didn't hear it. But she would be wrong in that assumption. She heard, and took a peak at Jade from the corner of her eye. She couldn't mask that red tint this time with being mad. This was almost as good as the time Jade sort of complemented her by telling her she was pretty.

* * *

"Jadey!"

"Don't call me that Cat!"

"But your hair looks nice. You put red in it just like Tori's favourite colour. It wasn't like that this morning at the coffee shop!"

Trust Cat to be annoyingly observant and perky at the worst possible time. She was totally ruining Jade's subtle plan to win Tori Vega's attention and heart. Subtle being the key word in that sentence. Well that was it. If she tried to do anything more out of character today with Tori she would for sure get caught at the rate Cat was going. She knew that Cat wasn't as completely oblivious as she let everyone believe, not that she wasn't a little bit wacko in the head, but for it to come out now, when she didn't want certain things to be so pointed out to Tori was ridiculous. Whatever. She would still be nice to Vega, just not too nice. The rest of the class she spent ignoring Sikowitz's weird explanation of method acting and surreptitiously glancing at Vega. Why did she have to look so pretty today? God those cheekbones… and that smile. Her thoughts started to trail down a path that wasn't so good to do in the middle of class. This was just getting to be too much for her, and so as soon as the bell went, she rushed out of there and into the bathroom, trying to cool herself off before she went to lunch and had to sit at a table where Vega was. Where Vega would be sitting with the sunlight glinting off those beautiful chocolate brown tresses, giving them a golden hint, and highlighting her tan skin that she got from her Latin roots. Okay so maybe staying in the bathroom for a little longer was a good idea.

She finally made it slowly out and walked over to their usual table. Thank God the only seat left was next to Cat.

* * *

Finally Jade sat down at their table. Who knows where she rushed off to or why it took her so long to get there, but Tori didn't really care because she had Jade here now, and it was time to get something a little cleared up for herself. Although she had noticed out of her peripherals that Jade had been glancing at her quite a bit all throughout class. Maybe she had something on her face. No, one of the guys would have said something by now. She waited until the guys were all discussing some action film that was coming out later on, when she pounced on Jade. Well not literally.

"Hey Jade?"

"What Victoria?" Well that was said with slightly less hostility then she was used to, so she guessed Jade was still in that good mood from this morning and that whatever Tori had done to illicit Jade's attention all throughout class was not something completely bad.

"You know that Cat's real name is Caterina right?" Even though Cat and Jade were both sitting across from Tori, it seemed Cat was in her own world once again and was completely ignoring the fact that Tori was talking about her.

"Sure, whatever."

"Well..."

"Well what?"

"Well, why aren't you calling Cat by her full name? Why just me?"

"You ask too many questions."

"I asked two!" She replied indignantly, "and anyways, you're the only one who calls me Vega, so like it's not like it's something new for you."

"What?"

"You know."

"Clearly I don't."

"You're still just calling me something nobody else does."

"Well maybe I just want to monopolize on all the names other people don't get to call you."

"Yeah? And what other names would those be?" Jade's eyes widened a bit before she quickly got up and rushed away, leaving her coffee and the barely touched lunch there.

"Hey wait Jade! We weren't done talking!"

"Yeah, well I was done listening!" What was that? Jade left her coffee. Her coffee! Why was Jade acting so weird?!

* * *

Girlfriend. That was the name she was thinking about right before she walked away from Tori. She almost said it too! That would have been a disaster for sure! She had left before Tori could see that she was actually blushing. She needed to calm herself down somehow. She needed coffee. Wait! She left her coffee at the lunch table. Damn! She would have to go back that way if she wanted another one. To the bathroom it was then! She had to relax and cool off a bit. Why was trying to be subtle so hard? It's probably because she was so good and used to being blunt. Usually she just said whatever came off the top of her head and that was usually something mean or had something to do with other people in pain, so people would be even more creeped out if she suddenly started letting slip what her thoughts had been dominated by these past few weeks. Victoria Vega. Ugh why did she have to be so God damn gorgeous!

Whatever. She shook her head, trying to dislodge herself of these thoughts, and decided she would just come up with something to do tomorrow for Vega. Cat had better not be as observant tomorrow, otherwise Vega would catch on sooner that she hoped. She still didn't know if Vega had any interest in her or not. All this trying to figure out if Vega liked her was starting to give her a headache. With a sigh, she left the bathroom and slowly made her way to her next class, still wishing she hadn't left her coffee at the lunch table. It would have been perfect for calming her down and getting rid of that headache.


	4. Chapter 3

Jade's thoughts had remained on Tori and what to do about the situation for most of the rest of the afternoon. She had, however, managed to grab another coffee in between one of her classes, which really helped to minimize her headache, but she still remained deep in thought. Finally the bell rang signaling her last class being done and the blissful moment of being able to go home came. She just wanted to go home and sleep and hopefully get a few hours rest from all this thinking of Tori. She was just about to escape, shoving her last book into her bag when a bouncing ball of red ambushed her, the tell tale signs of Cat's giggling identifying who it was easily.

"Ugh. Cat what do you want?" She sighed with frustration. This was sure to bring back her headache in full force and she was so looking forward to going straight home too.

"JADE!"

"Yes what Cat? Hurry this up I really need to get home. Like now! So?"

"I just wanted to know why you've been so quiet today. You know this one time my brother was being quiet and when I asked him what was up he barked at me and then he bit me. Sometimes he thinks he's a dog. " Cat giggled much to Jade's annoyance. She really didn't have the energy to stop Cat's usual rants about her brother. She hoped that Cat would just forget about her line of questioning and just get distracted like she usually did. Too bad she didn't have any candy on her because that always worked pretty well.

"Jade you don't think you're a dog do you?"

"No Cat. I just have a headache."

"Oh. Well I just thought maybe it was because of Tori."

"What?! What do you mean?"

"What do I mean about what?"

"When you said that you thought it was because of Tori?"

"What was because of Tori?"

"Ugh never mind. I'm going home."

"But Jade-"

"You know what Cat? I think Robbie has some candy he wanted to give you."  
"Oh YAY! ROBBIE!" Finally Cat scampered off and Jade breathed a sigh as she made her way out to the parking lot and to her Mustang. She was so thankful she had a convertible, cause it was hot, and hopefully the air would help to clear her head a bit.

Just as Jade was lying in her bed trying to sleep she made a decision. Although she was successful in being nice to Tori and she hoped Tori had noticed, she needed to see if there was a chance that Tori could like her. She decided to go the cliché route and go with the jealousy plan. It was genius really, because Vega couldn't help but be nice to everyone, so it would be fairly easy to spot if she was acting jealous. With that finally decided, Jade managed to fall asleep fairly easily.

Once again she carefully planned her outfit to be somewhat revealing and to make her look sexy, which really wasn't hard due to most of her clothes being black, and the fact she was into lace and leather. She wore a knee length dress that had red flowers on the top and was lacy black material on the skirt. She paired this with a black leather jacket, black tights and of course her trusty combat boots.

Once again she just grabbed an apple for breakfast managing to dodge her mom and made it in great time to the coffee shop. She decided to use the drive through in order to miss Cat if Cat happened to be there today. She didn't get Tori anything today because she didn't want Tori to get suspicious and she wanted to make it to school somewhat early again. The only part of her plan that she hadn't figured out was who she would use to get Tori jealous. It would have to be a girl so that Tori would see that she was interested in the same sex. Otherwise, she would just be put back into the same situation as before with Beck. Sometimes Vega had too good of a heart, and would probably try to help her if it was a guy, and she needed her to see what she was missing out on.

As she walked into Hollywood Arts she noticed Tori at her locker sipping from a Styrofoam cup seemingly in conversation with Trina. Jade could tell from her numerous times of watching Vega's expressions that she wasn't really listening to Trina, but who would anyways. That girl said the craziest chiz! She scanned the hallways looking for the perfect girl to bring her plan into motion with. It was a surprisingly difficult task seeing as she hated most of these people and they knew it. She gave up for the moment and made her way over to Tori trying not to make it too obvious she was checking her out. That girl had a great pair of legs on her, which were clearly visible due to the fact she was wearing a skirt today. It was going to be another long day of thinking of Tori she could tell already.

"Hey Victoria." Thankfully Trina had left just as Jade had come up to Tori's locker. Though that may have been due to the fact that she had sent a good glare her way.

"Jadelyn. Good morning. That dress looks really nice on you. Red is definitely your colour." Tori's smile brightened up the whole room, and Jade couldn't help the fact that her lips started to curl up at the edges. So Vega had noticed her outfit. Her smile quickly turned to a frown though when she smelled coffee.

"Is that coffee you're drinking Victoria?" Her brows furrowed as she stood there confused. Cat said just yesterday that Tori didn't like coffee. Tori took a sip of her coffee and nodded.

"Why yes Jadelyn, it is." She kind of liked the fact that Tori had started calling her by her full name. It was like they had a thing now. Wait. Focus Jade!

"But Cat told me just yesterday that you don't like coffee."

"She did? Why would you be talking with Cat about what I like Jadelyn?"

"Ummm… uh no reason…" She could feel her cheeks heat up a bit. Tori was catching her so off guard lately.

"Mhmm… Okay then." Tori looked at her with a little bit of suspicion in her eye. She had to get out of there fast. She almost just walked away, but she didn't want to draw even more attention to the fact she was somewhat flustered.

"Yeah, looks like the bell is going to ring and we should get to class so… bye." She briskly walked away.

"Jade wait! You're never on time for your first class."

"Yeah, and how would you know that?" Tori then blushed and she took it as a success at distracting away from her own suspicious behaviour. Vega was, after all right. She wasn't ever on time for English let alone early, which is what she would be today.

English was a bore as usual and she barely paid attention, her thoughts completely revolving around a certain Latina and her great legs. Her plan also crossed her mind and she briefly searched the class for any potential partners in her plan. She didn't really get far in that front, and was more than eager to get to her next class anyways. She had script writing after English instead of Sikowitz today. It was one of her favourite classes, a plus being that none of her group of friends were in it, making it even easier to find the person that would become the partner in her jealousy plan. She didn't have time to really look around her class because they were immediately partnered up for a new script project, but that actually ended up being a good thing because she was partnered with Melissa Eldridge one of the few girls at HA that she actually liked and could get along with. This was mostly because Melissa had written some pretty good horror themed scripts and so they could agree on what to write and work together. As opposed to what she normally did, which was force her partner to write something horrific and mostly she just did the work herself.

She had debated on whether to tell Melissa about her jealousy plan, and if she did, whether she should tell her that it was Vega who she was trying to make jealous. She didn't want to lead Melissa on and it would be easier to do if Melissa actually knew what the plan was. She decided letting Melissa in on it would be much easier and then she also wouldn't hurt Melissa, and although it was slightly embarrassing to have to tell her about her crush on Tori, it was nice to have someone to talk to and to get a second opinion about the situation. Especially since it wasn't someone from her usual group of friends. Melissa was actually all for the idea. Apparently there was someone Melissa had her eye on and she could then make that person jealous at the same time. She wouldn't tell her who her crush was yet, but Jade didn't really care, just as long as they didn't overdo it. She wanted Vega to seem irrationally jealous in the end. Subtlety was her original plan after all.

They made their way out of class as the bell rang, Jade making a point of being in Tori's plain view as she talked to Melissa excitedly about their project. The best part about this plan was that they weren't really faking most of it. She really was excited about the project, she just made sure it seemed she was being flirtier with Melissa than she would usually be with someone.

She made sure Tori was watching as she smiled at Melissa and reached out to touch her arm a bit. She liked that Vega was overly nice to everyone, a trait that was rather opposite to Jade herself, but you know, opposites attract and what not. She would never admit that to anyone out loud, but it did make seeing if Vega was interested a whole lot easier to spot. As they were walking to Jade's locker Melissa tripped over what looked like that creepy moss stuff that Sinjin had found that actually looked more like some of his hair. It was perfect though, because Jade "caught" Melissa before she could completely fall and then proceeded to giggle a bit. Well, Jade didn't ever exactly giggle, so it was more of a laugh but still, not typical for her. She said a quick goodbye to Melissa after that, not wanting to seem too flirty with her, giving a smile and wave as Melissa walked down the hallway to make her own way to lunch.

Jade grabbed some fries from the grub truck and then found their usual lunch table where Vega was sitting with a somewhat glum expression. She thought it was safe to assume then that her plan was working.

"Hey Victoria. How are you doing on this fine day?"

"Oh. Hey Jade. It's a nice day I guess." Perfect! They had almost switched places, her being the one who was cheery for once.

"Yeah the weath–"

"Jade!" She saw that it was Melissa again. They hadn't planned on her coming over, but that couldn't really hurt right? She noticed that Melissa had glanced around her table however. Hmm. Who was her crush? Whatever, maybe she would ask later.

"Oh hey Melissa, didn't I just see you?" She asked with a smirk.

"Mhmm. You did, but I realized that we didn't choose a time yet."

"Oh, you're right! Friday at 7 work for you then?" She tried to make it sound like a time that a date could possibly be taking place.

"That's perfect! I'll see you then! I can't wait!"

"Okay then. See you later Melissa."

She looked over to Tori, but she wasn't paying attention to Jade at all, rather she was glaring at Melissa's back as she walked away. Jade kept eating her fries and tried to hide the smirk that was slowly creeping into a larger smile. She couldn't help it. It seemed that Tori was a little more interested than she had originally thought. Tori had finally turned back to her salad, not eating it, but moving it around with her fork a bit, and then setting her gaze on Jade.

"So Jade, what are you doing with Melissa?" Yup, she totally got Vega with this one.

"Hmm?" Jade pretended to be distracted, and then let a smile break out on her face. She didn't have to act distracted and excited too much because the script ideas she and Melissa had come up with were pretty cool so far, and she really was excited to get working on it. It would also help to serve as a bit of a distraction from her usual thoughts lately.

"Oh, Melissa and I are just hanging out on Friday."

"Since when do you and Melissa hang out?" Tori said with a bit of an angrier tone.

"She's in my script writing class." Jade knew that wasn't much of an answer, but she didn't want to be clear with Vega on this one. The more mystery surrounding her friendship with Melissa, the more reaction she could get out of Vega.

"Hey these fries are really good today. Better than usual." She switched the subject knowing Vega loved fries. But Tori said nothing. She just continued to glance in the direction Melissa walked off in and her expression turned from glum to determined. She wondered what that was about, but didn't think she could get a straight answer anyways.

"Victoria?"

"Huh what?" Tori whipped her head back to focus on Jade, seemingly coming out of some deep thoughts.

"Would you like some of my fries? They're really good today, and I know how much you like them."

"Um… Did you spit on them again?"

"Nope." Jade said, popping the "p".

"Okay eat one right now then."

"Didn't you see me eat one already? You were already here when I sat down. Surely you would have noticed me eat some by now."

"Uh. Right! Of course I did. Sure I'll have some. Thanks." Tori gave her a small smile.

"Awesome! Right, well you can actually have the rest. I have to find Cat. I need to talk to her about something."

She wanted to make sure that Cat wouldn't ruin anything for her because this plan was finally working out better than she had hoped. Tori just looked at her a little confused, but took her fries anyway, just like Jade knew she would.

"Well thanks… Jadelyn. Before you go, can I ask you something?"

"I don't know can you?"

"Ugh Jade!"

"What? I think you should know what you can and can't do Victoria. You shouldn't need to ask me." She replied with a smirk.

"What is up with you? …You're being _nice_." Tori put emphasis on the word nice like it was a foreign concept.

"You're nice all the time Victoria, and you don't see me questioning it and I–" She almost let it slip that she liked her, "Um I think we can consider each other friends by now. You did help me with that Beck situation a while back. But if you ever tell anyone, I will cut you with my scissors, and I'll make it look like an accident too!" She couldn't be completely different she was still Jade West, but she did feel proud of herself at the smile Vega was now sporting. With that said though, she got up from the table to go and find Cat.

The halls were pretty empty but even still it was pretty easy to find Cat, since all she had to do was follow her giggles. How anyone could stay perky for that long baffled Jade. Whatever. Better to get this set straight before Cat did any more damage.

"CAT!" She had found Cat sitting on the stairs eating Candy she pulled out of her shirt.

"Hi hi Jade!" Those giggles were going to send her over the edge one of these days.

"Yeah yeah. Cat I need to talk to you about something."

"Oh Jade! Is it about Tori?" How did she do that? Seriously, Cat was not at all as oblivious as everyone thought. Although Jade did know that, she just forgot most of the time because Cat was so good at being perky all the time.

"Actually. It is. Unfortunately _you_ can't keep your mouth shut and you keep almost ruining my plans! This is just like the PearMaps all over again." She mumbled that last part in frustration.

"Yeah well, I'm just trying to help you Jadey. You like Tori and you need to just make a move!"

"What? I can't just 'make a move'," She said with air quotes, "this is Vega we're talking about!"

"Don't you mean _Victoria_?" Cat said with a grin and her voiced had lowered into a more serious tone. Jade narrowed her eyes.

"CAT!"

"What? You like her Jade so just do something. Something that actually gets you somewhere. Doing nice things for her and calling her by her full name really isn't going to get you that far."

"Yeah well I am doing something else. I'm hanging out with Melissa on Friday."

"Sorry what? Do you mean Melissa _Eldridge_?" Cat's voiced had raised and her eyes grew a bit wide at that information. Jade just looked at her suspiciously.

"Yeah Cat why? She's in my script writing class you know?"

"Oh, well um… why are you going out with her?" Cat said in a small voice.

"To make _Victoria_ jealous obviously."

"Seriously Jade? Why can't you just like go up to her and kiss her or something if you're really that afraid to say something. I mean that would make it pretty obvious I think."

"What do you expect Cat? That I'll just kiss her and fireworks will go off in the background? This is not the movies Cat! Stuff like that doesn't happen in real life! Kissing her out of the blue could be disastrous!"

"Yeah and going out with Melissa is really going to get her to like you? It's the same kind of cliché thing to do, except kissing her will actually get you where you want faster. Why'd you have to pick Melissa anyways? Don't you think you'll hurt her with all of this?" Cat's expression quickly turned to one of concern.

"What do you care?"

"Um… uh I don't?" Jade narrowed her eyes.

"Really Cat?" Cat was being weirdly protective of Melissa, "Wait! Do you like Melissa?"

"Well… So what if I do! Look Jade, just please don't hurt her okay?"

"Cat everything is totally fine. Melissa's in on the plan, and anyways, we're not really going out. We got partnered up for a project in our script writing class, so I just made it seem like we were going on a date Friday night in front of Vega."

"Oh. Well then, I guess you're not going to take my advice right?"

"You would be correct in that assumption. But you know, you should take some of your own advice. I'm pretty sure that Melissa is crushing on you too, cause she told me she was trying to make someone else jealous too, and I think I saw her looking for you when she came by our table at lunch."

"Yeah well, I don't know. A relationship would be kind of hard to start with her. Everyone here thinks I have no idea what is going on."

"Yeah well most of the time you pretend not to."

"I know. But you know why." Cat's brother was actually a little bit crazier than everyone thought, and so Cat used her ditzy girl act to hide away from all the trauma of her childhood. It was actually pretty rare to catch Cat in the mood she was in right now. She had somewhat become her role, and managed to shut off her serious side most of the time, so usually she actually didn't know what was going on unless she took particular interest in it. Hopefully Melissa could bring out more of the serious Cat. Jade missed that Cat, and especially hated dealing with giggly Cat in the mornings before her coffee, but had stayed her friend regardless. Cat had a lot more going on than everyone assumed, and that's the way Cat liked it. She really didn't want anyone to know about what happened. Jade really believed that Melissa could help bring the old Cat out though. It would be good for the both of them. Now she just had to make sure it was Cat that Melissa was crushing on.

"I do know. But I still think you should go for it. In any case, maybe watch Melissa a bit, see if it's you she's trying to make jealous. I think you guys would be really good for each other."

"Okay I'll see."

"Right anyway, first you're never going to tell anyone we had this 'heart to heart' and second, stop trying to make it so obvious to Vega what I'm doing! I'm going for subtle here!"

"Why? She already likes you."

"What? What are you talking about?"

"Seriously Jade? Like I know that everyone assumes I know nothing, but honestly how could you not have noticed the way she looks at you? I'm pretty sure Tori has always had a crush on you. Who knows why though, since you're like permanently a gank to her!"

"HEY! I'm trying to stop!"

"I guess I can give it to you that you are, but really would you just make a move already!"

"NO! If what you say is really true, then this should be kind of fun. I mean she's already outrageously jealous about Melissa from what I can tell. I just want to see what she's gonna do."

Yeah Jade could still be somewhat sadistic, and her favourite past time had been torturing Vega. This was a different kind of torture, and could hopefully end up somewhere great for Jade. Her smirk turned into a full blown grin, and she kept it all the way to Sikowitz's class. She had regained some confidence about the situation after her conversation with Cat and couldn't wait to see what Vega was up to. She would stick with her plan until Friday or until Vega made a proper move. After all, if she had liked Jade for as long as Cat said she did, then she should finally take her chance and ask Jade out. She would be fine waiting for Vega, because she could see the wait being very amusing. She walked into their class and sat beside Vega once again, turning her huge smile onto Tori and greeting her in the fashion she had adopted as of late.

"Victoria. Did you enjoy those fries?"

"Yeah I guess… What's got you all smiling?"

"Oh nothing. Like I said earlier, it's just a really nice day today." She left it at that, a twinkle to her eyes, as Vega frowned a bit at her answer. She was probably thinking about Melissa once again. Seriously, this was going to be so much fun!


	5. Chapter 4

Tori had thought about it all night long and unfortunately hadn't gotten much sleep. Why exactly was Jade acting so weird and nice? It also seemed that she was only acting weird around her. Jade was being her usual snappy and angry self around everyone else. Actually, come to think of it, she was almost worse with everyone else than she usually was.

Her late night thoughts led her to pick up a cup of coffee that morning rather than a tea. She needed the caffeine and energy, however, she still managed to put some effort into her appearance, and made sure she didn't look like how she felt, which was that she had barely gotten any sleep.

Jade had commented on her drinking coffee this morning. Apparently, Cat had been telling her what she liked. She wondered if it was Cat offering up random information, or if she really asked Cat about it. That could explain the tea latte Jade had given her yesterday. She resolved to figure out later, and to maybe ask Cat and see if she could actually get an answer out of her. She made her way to her first class, her usual smile on her face, especially after just having a rather good conversation with Jade, despite the fact she had been embarrassed a bit at the end. She was now calling Jade by her full name too. She had always thought the name Jadelyn was really pretty, and wanted to use it before, but she figured that Jade would rip her head off or something equivalent, so she had refrained. Now though, they sort of had a thing going about calling each other by their first names. Tori rather liked that Jade was being nicer and that they were getting closer. It meant that there was a higher chance for both them to be something more in the future. She wouldn't mind skipping over that friends stage too, if it meant going straight to girlfriends.

Her happy day took a turn for the worst just as lunch came. She had seen Jade and Melissa Eldridge talking rather animatedly and for Jade that was practically unheard of. Jade had even caught Melissa when she almost fell, and Tori had been a bit bummed that Melissa hadn't. Didn't Jade take pleasure in other people's pain? Why hadn't she just let Melissa trip over Sinjin's pile of hair, instead of catch her? Ugh, this was frustrating. Jade wasn't supposed to be nice to other girls. Wait a minute… Other girls? Could that mean what she thought?

By now she was sitting at their usual table at the Asphalt Café pushing her salad around as she frowned at her thoughts. Once again, Jade was immensely confusing. Jade had come up and said something about it being a nice day, but Tori barely paid attention until _she_ came up. _Melissa Eldridge_.

Tori watched as Melissa excitedly came to talk to Jade about some plans that they had on Friday. Of course, then when she questioned Jade about it, she gave her back cryptic answers, as was pretty typical of Jade. She didn't even bother trying to get a straight answer out of her. Tori had watched as Melissa retreated, and kept gazing at the spot she had disappeared to. That was it! She decided that she would have to up her game since it seemed she would have to compete against this other girl for Jade. At this point it could be fairly confirmed that Jade had an interest in girls, so Tori would have to do her best if she wanted to be the one Jade chose, but there was no question Jade would be hers, and that was final.

She turned back to Jade who then offered her some fries. At first Tori thought that she was playing some kind of prank on her, but then just decided she didn't care even if she was. Trying to figure out Jade was starting to give her a headache and those fries did look more appealing than her salad, and it couldn't be that much worse than the one time she drank coffee out of the garbage even if Jade had done something to it. Jade made some hasty retreat after that to find Cat, which just reminded Tori that she herself wanted to have a rather important conversation with the little red head.

She made her way to Sikowitz's class when the bell rang, taking her usual seat next to where Cat would sit. She would have to catch Cat after class since they both happened to have a free period. Jade sat next to her once again, and kept being her weird cheery self and it seemed to Tori that she was actually happier than she was before.

Tori didn't really have much time to dwell on the matter though, because Sikowitz called her and Jade up for some good ol' alphabet improve fun. Well, this could be good, maybe she could use this to her advantage.

"Right so Tori, Jade, you will be our victims for today's ALPHABET IMPROV!" Sikowitz seemed a bit too excited for this, but he probably just had another slightly fermented coconut. She really didn't believe his coconuts give you visions theory, but when it was a spoiled coconut, then who knows what they could do to you. She just rolled her eyes at Sikowitz's usual weird behaviour and made her way up to the stage with Jade closely following behind her. She turned around quickly, noticing that Jade's eyes seemed to be glued to her legs. Hmm okay... that's the way she'd play it then.

"Okay you two, start at 'J'! Tori you first. Aaannnndddd GO!"

"Jade, have I ever told you that your eyes are absolutely gorgeous?" She tried to make her voice sound as sultry as possible and smirked at the end as Jade's eyes widened slightly. Not many could see that Jade was somewhat flustered, but Tori knew, she was rather good at reading Jade by this point. She could probably call herself an expert actually.

"Kaleidoscopes are fun to use." Hmm not as good as Jade usually was.

"Listen to your voice. It's just breathtaking."

"My eyes are up here Victoria." Ah, it seemed Jade was back. Well, somewhat.

"No I wasn't looking there, although, might I say, you do have a wonderful body, so it's not like you could fault me if I _was_." She winked at that, and did not miss the slight pink of Jade's cheeks.

"Out of the blue, that's where this is coming from."

"Probably wouldn't think so if you really knew what I thought."

"Question? Are you trying to flirt with me?"

"Really? You have to ask? I thought it was pretty obvious that I am."

"Start telling me the truth."

"That's interesting. I thought I was."

"Unbelievable – that's what you are."

"Very nice of you to say. I am aren't I?"

"What are you trying to tell me?" Jade's eyes had a mischievous glint at that. What did she know? Tori had decided enough, she would try to throw Jade off the scent a bit. She needed to talk to Cat first, then she'd make her final move. Jade hadn't seemed repulsed at her flirting and she also didn't look like she was going to kill her so that could only mean good things.

She went for a nonchalant tone of voice as she said, "Oh just that I think you should perform at the Moonlight Jam tomorrow. You always sound lovely when you sing." She smiled and sat down, just as she heard Sikowitz yelling.

"Ehhh NO! Tori the next letter was an 'X'! You're done!"

She ignored Sikowitz and looked at Jade who had a confused expression on her face as she made to sit down.

* * *

As Jade made her way back to her seat after the brief improve exercise, the only thought that rang through her head was that she was being an idiot! Her jealousy plan went straight out the window as soon as Tori started shamelessly flirting with her in front of their whole class. How could she have forgotten how amazing Tori really is? She was nice, and beautiful, and had such a heart for others and those endlessly deep eyes that seemed to pierce through her could just drive her crazy, not to mention her beautiful smile. This morning she had gotten so caught up in her plans that she forgot what really mattered and that was getting the girl. It was enough that Vega had some interest in someone like her. The conversation she had just had with Cat rang through her head, and then her thoughts flickered through the many times she had been a gank to Tori. She couldn't go through with it. She now knew that Tori liked her, or at least was somewhat interested, and she didn't want to leave her the opportunity to change her mind, so it was now time to take some action. She wouldn't let Vega get away on her.

Sikowitz spent the rest of that class trying to convince them to do stupid things like a play on the city bus. Seriously, people travelling by public transport were never in a good mood, and wouldn't want some kids doing some weird play in front of them. Most of the people wouldn't be there for the whole thing anyways and there isn't really a whole lot of room on a bus. Then there was his idea for an underwater play. Seriously? Cause that would really work out well. The only good thing that came from this class was that Sikowitz had then forced them to say yes to anything someone asked for a day. This gave Jade an idea.

She caught up to Tori just as she was leaving the classroom.

"Hey Victoria! Wait a minute please." Please? Ugh, the things she would do for that girl.

"Um yes Jadelyn? What do you need?"

"Well, since you asked…" She smiled a genuine smile and Tori just looked at her curiously. "I want you to be at the Moonlight Jam tomorrow night, and I want to make sure that you watch my performance. What do you say to that?" Of course Jade knew what she _had_ to say to that.

"Well yes of course. But you do know that I would have said yes anyway right?"

"Yes." She smirked at Tori.

"Ah I get it. But seriously what's up?"

"I just decided to take your suggestion and let you hear my beautiful voice. I also want you to know that I'm not going with anyone and that I hope you're not planning to either." She gave Vega one of her seductive smiles and threw in a wink for good measure.

"Right first I'll say yes – to your assumption that is, and second, that I'm glad you took my suggestion to heart." Tori winked right back at Jade.

"Perfect!"

"Okay well, I really need to talk to Cat so… I'll see you later Jadelyn."

"Bye Victoria." Jade was beaming and her heart was also beating pretty fast. She had decided to revert to her old plan of being nice to Vega but to also take Cat's suggestion to heart. She didn't want to just ask Tori out when she would be forced to say yes, because she would rather Vega choose to go out with her. She was going to make sure this Moonlight Jam was going to be the best she had ever had.

* * *

Tori found Cat at her locker pulling something out of her shirt. She walked up to her with a confused expression on her face.

"Umm hey Cat…"

"TORI! Do you want some candy?" Ah, so that was what it was. Who kept candy in their bra?

"Uh sure Cat, I guess."

"YAY! Here you can have a gumdrop!"

"Thanks… Listen Cat, I need to talk to you about something."

"Really? I need to tell you something too!"

"You do?"

'Mhmm it's about _Jade_." Cat winked at her.

"What?"

"Yeah, see I'm worried about you guys."

"Why would you be worried about us?"

"Cause she likes you and you like her, but she's being stupid." Cat's voice had taken on a serious tone that she had never heard before.

"Why's she being stupid?"

"Umm well she told me not to tell you really."

"Well then why did you bring it up? Not that I'm not happy you did, because I was going to ask you about her anyways, but yeah… why?"

"Well… maybe I could just tell you what she's _not _doing…" Cat put emphasis on the word "not" and gave her a wink at the end.

"Oh, yeah I get it. Tell me what she's _not _doing then."

"She's _not_ trying to make you jealous by _not_ making you _think_ she's going out with Melissa, when really they're _not_ just working on a script writing project." That sentence somewhat confused Tori, but she thought she caught the gist. Jade was trying to make her jealous with Melissa.

"Hmm okay. But then why did she just ask me to make sure I'm going to the Moonlight Jam to watch her performance and why did she make sure to tell me that she's not planning on taking anyone and then specifically ask me if I was going with someone? Wouldn't she have implied that she was taking Melissa?" Cat adorned a thoughtful expression at this.

"Maybe… Maybe I _did_ get through to her then…"

"What do you mean?"

"Well I told her to just kiss you or something instead of trying to make you jealous and potentially hurting you and Melissa. Well, I guess she wouldn't have hurt Melissa, because–"

"Cat."

"she was in on it the whole time,"

"Cat."

"which I was really happy to hear,"

"CAT."

"because like, Melissa's nice and maybe I kind of like her, and I may have told Jade that you like her back but–"

"CAT! Wait what! You told Jade that I like her!"

"Oh, well yeah, I thought that if she knew, maybe she would do something that would actually get her somewhere. Look, Jade is just too scared to put herself out there and so she just wants you to make the move. I think she's just retreating back into her typical defense mechanism and just being ganky to you in a different way than she usually is. I thought she finally accepted the fact that she likes you, and she was doing a pretty good job showing you even though it was going a bit slow in my opinion, but then she just reverted back to doing more stupid chiz! She really does have a nice side, and I think she wants to bring it out for you, but she's just scared like I said, and I mean you can't just change over night, and she has been a gank to you for so long, so I can kind of see where she's coming from, but I just wish she would talk to you like a normal person. She was just going to watch you get all jealous now and wait for you to make a move, but maybe she finally realized that she should just go for it." Cat had gone back to her rambling once again, but Tori ignored it and just listened. She was getting some good information on Jade and why she was acting the way she was.

"Yeah, well, I guess I can't exactly fault her for that… I'm scared too… So what do you think she's planning for the Moonlight Jam then?"

"I really don't know. Jade's hard to understand even at the best of times."

"Don't I know it. Well, what should I do then?"

"Well, I certainly don't think you guys should dance around each other more. She's finally realized her true feelings for you, so I think that even if she doesn't ask you out tomorrow, you should just do it. Oh! You should ask Andre if you can go last, that way, if she chickens out or something, then you can ask her."

"I'm not going to ask her out in front of our whole school Cat! Are you crazy?"

"Well, everyone here seems to think so." Cat smirked at Tori. Seriously? Who was this girl, and what did she do with Cat Valentine?

"I don't think you're crazy Cat. Maybe a little oblivious at times, but definitely not crazy."

"Yeah, I knew you would say something like that. No wonder Jade likes you so much, you're so nice to people. Don't know what you see in Jade though. I mean she's been a gank to you since your first day!"

"Yeah but she has been nicer recently," Tori said with a dreamy expression on her face, "and I mean, seriously! Have you seen the way that girl looks?"

"Um yes. I have. It's all scary and black."

"No it's not! She's been wearing red lately. Red's my favourite colour."

"Yeah, I know, I told her that yesterday. It's all been part of her plan to get you to notice her. Well, notice her in a good light I guess."

"And have you seen her eyes Cat?"

"Unfortunately I think everyone can say they have experienced Jade's eyes, but probably not in the way you're thinking right now. Anyways, I don't really want to hear more about how "wonderful" Jade is despite the fact that she's my best friend and I obviously have great taste in friends. Just make sure that you're ready to ask her tomorrow. If you can't say the words then just do it through a song or something."

"Oh that's a great idea Cat! Thanks so much for this. Jade was just being so confusing kind of like hot and cold and I didn't know what to think. I mean, she's kind of being subtle too you know?"

"Unfortunately I do. That was also part of her plan. Seriously, Jade can be so stupid sometimes, and so stubborn. Good luck with that Tori. But I guess, if I had to put anyone up to the task, it'd be you. I think you have more power over Jade than you realize. In any case, I need to go. I have something to ask Melissa… See you later Tori!"

"Umm sure Cat. Thanks… again." Weirdest but best conversation with Cat ever! She couldn't wait for this day to be over so that Wednesday could come. Jade would finally be hers!


	6. Chapter 5

Ever since their final break up Jade hadn't given much thought to Beck. She should have of course, and she realized this when she saw him at Tori's locker with his usual "trying to look sexy and aloof face" and Tori just standing there with a slightly uncomfortable expression. This could not be any good at all for Jade, so she rushed over to them, trying to keep calm as much as possible.

"Beck! Victoria!"

"Uh Jade, hi. How are you doing?" Came from Beck looking a little more disappointed and not quite as confident as before.

"Yeah Beck, I'm fine whatever. What are you talking to Victoria for?"

"Uh well Jade, I was actually about to ask _Tori_ here if tonight she wanted to-"

"NO!" She could not let Beck finish that sentence. There was no way she'd just let him have the opportunity to ask Vega out.

"Don't you mean yes?" Came from a smirking Tori.

"Sure… I mean, yes, of course you were going to ask Tori to do… something… with you, but you see Tori and I are hanging out tonight, isn't that right Tori?" Jade looked pointedly at Tori, hoping she would get the message.

"But-" Jade glared and widened her eyes at Tori.

"Sorry, what were you going to say?" Beck looked on with a more hopeful expression. Not for long buddy!

"Right, um yeah… Jade and I are hanging out tonight… apparently" She mumbled the last part so only Jade could hear.

"Yeah, so sorry Beck. Tori can't do anything with you tonight." Or ever, if she had anything to say about it. She really should have considered Beck making a move on Tori, cause really, who wouldn't want to? But she would have thought that he would ask her out when she wasn't forced to say yes, although she might have just done the same thing he had been planning. She decided to think of it as saving Tori rather than forcing her.

"Oh well… I guess that's cool then. Um, I have to go umm yeah… bye." Beck slumped off, but Jade didn't really care despite his somewhat dejected look because he was gone and couldn't ask Tori out on a date, or at least he couldn't today. Okay so maybe she should take the next opportunity she could to ask Vega out, so that she didn't have to "save" her anymore.

"Well Jadelyn, what exactly are we doing tonight?"

"Movie night. Your house. I'll take you home after school."

"ooookaaaay then."

"Right I'm picking the movies though. See you later Victoria." She heard Tori's reply as she walked off down the hallway but didn't bother to turn around, just flung a hand up in a wave. Okay she could do this. Tonight.

* * *

Jade was leaning against Tori's locker at the end of the day, waiting for her so they could finally leave Hollywood Arts. She was both excited and nervous for the night at the Vega household, but no one could tell from the outside. She had a somewhat subdued glare plastered over her face, just enough to repel anyone from approaching, but not enough to seem like she was in a horrible mood. However, she was getting slightly annoyed as Vega took longer and longer to get to her locker. Especially when she saw Beck coming her way, and it didn't exactly look like he was in a great mood either.

"Jade! I need to talk to you!"

"Yeah, well I figured, based on the way you were walking straight at me."

"Yeah well, I want to ask Tori out, and I need you to change your plans for tonight. This is like my guaranteed in! She'll finally have to say yes, and it'll actually be like a real date this time. So yeah, change your plans!" Jade adopted a bored expression.

"Yeah, no that's not going to happen."

"Why not?"

"Cause Tori has better things to do than go out with you."

"What? How does that even make sense! You don't even like Tori."

"Yeah, well that still doesn't change the fact that she won't be going out with you. Besides, she had the option of going out with you when we were broken up before, and you totally got friend zoned, so like what makes you think she's gonna change her mind? You really just need to get over the fact that Tori doesn't like you and doesn't want to go out with you." Maybe she should team up with Tori once more and sing Beck "Take a Hint"…

"Yeah, but see that's why today's perfect! She can't say no!"

"Yeah it's still not gonna happen. Sorry. Now leave, Tori and I are going to her house to watch movies now."

"What am I doing?"

"Well, we are going to your house to watch movies. What was taking you so long anyways?"

"Oh, well Cat just-"

"You know what, I don't really care. Let's just go." She glanced at Beck once more, before turning around ready to walk to her car.

"Oh hey wait Tori!"

"Yeah Beck?"

"Can I join you and Jade on your movie night? I mean you're just hanging out anyways right?"

"Uh yessss…?"

"Okay perfect! I'll just go home quick and get changed and stuff. Let me know when you guys are about to start and I'll make my way over!" Jade's glare turned real this time. She was finally going to gather the courage to take Vega off the market and stupid Beck with his stupid hair and tanned skin had to go and ruin it! The universe was really plotting against her today.

"Fine we'll see you at Victoria's house then Beck. Let's go Victoria." She grabbed Tori's arm and despite her vocal protests, Tori came fairly easily behind her.

"Get in. I need to make a stop first."

"Yeah okay. But you know I had things to get out of my locker right?"

"I'm sure your homework can wait another night. You're probably ahead anyways."

"Yeah well, that's kind of true," Tori said sheepishly, "but I was going to grab my sweater too you know."

"Yeah well, your sweater can wait. I'm sure you have more at home."

"But I'm cold now!"

"Stop your whining! Here," Jade maneuvered her _favourite_ black leather jacket off and handed it to Tori, "wear my jacket then."

"Hey thanks. This is really nice of you. It's also a really nice jacket. You always look so good in it." Tori blushed at the end of her sentence, probably not meaning to let all of that slip, but Jade let go of the opportunity to tease Tori for once, there were other things on her mind anyways.

"Yeah well don't let it go to your head." Jade rapidly pulled out of the school's parking lot then, glad to be out of there.

There was a bit of an awkward silence as they rode their way to Jade's house, but Jade was too nervous to care or to try to make awkward small talk, so she just turned the radio on. The newest Ginger Fox song came on, and Jade smirked remembering the time Cat and her had tricked those stupid girls Tara and Hayley. Tori had done a really good job at that performance. Not that she ever did a bad job, but it was one of the times that she let herself let go and just have a great time with Tori. It was also great revenge to have those girls have to babysit Trina while she was getting over her surgery. The blood was super cool for Jade, but Jade tried to avoid any interactions with Trina as much as possible, because as much as she liked Tori, her sister was just weird and super annoying. Not even in the endearing and adorable way that Tori was annoying, but in that way that made Jade want to turn her scissors on herself. But she had better get used to being around Trina because she planned on hanging around Tori a lot in the future. It was the one negative about potentially dating Tori that she had considered as a deal breaker, but Tori was so worth it.

She finally pulled into her driveway, Tori still bobbing her head and humming the song that was just playing. She soon noticed that they were actually at Jade's house, and her jaw dropped.

"Keep your mouth open like that any longer and flies will make it their home."

"I'm sorry Jade, I just… I didn't know you lived _here_!"

"Yeah well I do. So get over it. I don't want to spend a lot of time here."

"Alright, alright! I was just admiring your house geez! You know I've never been here before, so give me a break."

"Yeah whatever, let's go." She swirled her car keys around her finger as she sauntered up to her front door. She also held the door open for Tori to walk in ahead of her. She was a little lost in her thoughts about tonight when she snapped out of it due to her mom yelling at her from the kitchen.

"Jadelyn honey, is that you?"

"No mom, it's the other daughter you have hanging around here."

"I didn't know you had a sister!"

"I don't"

"But you just said-"

"Jadelyn stop joking around and come here! I need to talk to you." She made her way through the foyer and to the kitchen, Tori trailing behind her, somewhat in a daze.

"Yeah what is it mom?"

"Oh I didn't know you had someone over. Who's this honey?"

"This is Tori. Tori this is my mom."

"It's very nice to meet you Mrs. West."

"Oh honey no one really calls me that anymore, call me Michelle."

"Well it's nice to meet you then Michelle."

"Likewise. Jadelyn is that your favourite jacket Tori is wearing? I thought you said that if someone touched it-" Jade's cheeks took on a slight pink, as her eyes widened.

"Mom! What did you need? Tori and I have to go."

"Oh right. Your father called once again, because apparently you aren't answering your phone anymore, which I know is not true, because you always answer when I call you. Anyways, he wanted to know-"

"Don't you dare finish that sentence! Sikowitz made us have to say yes to everything today and I won't be forced to go to another awkward dinner with him and the new Stepmonster okay? I promise I'll talk to him later. But can you please just leave it for now."

"Fine Jade I will. But you know I want you to talk to him."

"Mom there's nothing I want to say to him. I've told you that countless times!"

"But honey, he's your father, and I really think-"

"No, we are not having this discussion right now. Tori and I will just be a few minutes in my room and then we're going to her house to watch movies okay? I'll text you when I'm coming home."

"Jadelyn please just-"

"I said no! I'm not gonna do this when Tori is here. I just… I'll talk to you _and_ _dad_ tomorrow."

"Fine, you better. I haven't had a good talk with you in a while, you need to update me on the situation with your cr-"

"Stop right there!" Jade stormed off, finally done with the conversation and with her mom almost giving away her crush on Tori. She wasn't ready for that here. She also didn't need Tori to be in her business with her dad this soon. They weren't even dating yet! She didn't want her to know about all her issues with her dad, especially when Tori had like the perfect family. Well almost perfect. It's like Tori got all the good qualities and the bad just went to Trina.

"Bye Mrs… um I mean Michelle. Even though it was brief, it was a pleasure to meet you, and you also have a lovely home." Tori - ever the polite one, but Jade heard her mom's reply and blushed, thankful that she was already making her way up the stairs to her room, Tori still in the kitchen.

"Thank you. I'm sure I'll be seeing you a lot more around here anyways."

"Um yeah I guess…"

"You better go honey, Jade's probably not in the most patient of moods, she never likes talking about her father."

"Right, thanks. Bye!" She called down direction to Tori where her room was, not waiting for her to catch up. She just wanted to get to Vega's already.

"Oh Jade! I love your room!"

"Thanks. Wouldn't be all the red would it?"

"I guess that's part of it, but actually it just suits you. You know, a little dark and mysterious."

"You think I'm dark and mysterious?"

"Yeah you know, you could totally audition for that character in the movies that's supposed to be the gorgeous, dark, mysterious, bad ass."

"Did I just hear you swear? And call me gorgeous?"

"Chizz! Um… yeah… I guess I kinda did…"

"Hmm okay then… you'd be the beautiful innocent girl who's supposed fall in love with the bad ass so to speak." Jade was blushing so hard even her ears turned red. She couldn't believe she had practically told Vega that they were supposed to fall in love in the movies. But well maybe it wasn't so bad. It's what she wanted after all. What she thought they both wanted.

"Um yeah… Jade?"

"You know what? I got all the movies I want. I'm just gonna change into some comfy clothes and we'll go." Jade was pretty proud of the fact that she managed to doge Tori's guaranteed questions on what she just said, and quickly rummaged through her drawers grabbing some leggings and a baggy sweatshirt. She checked herself in the mirror of her en suite bathroom and made sure the red in her hair still looked good for Tori. She decided to put her hair up because the one time she had done it before, Tori had commented that she liked it that way. God it wasn't going to be hard for Tori to wrap Jade around her finger. She quickly escaped the bathroom before she could stress about the way she looked and whether Vega would like it, and grabbed her bag with the movies off her bed. She glanced up at Vega who had a slightly dazed expression on her face.

"Victoria?"

Nothing. Just a blank stare.

"Victoria?" She was slightly louder this time, but still, Tori said nothing. Okay, so she guessed she was pretty successful in her look.

"Victoria!"

"Huh what? Oh Jade… uh what's up?"

"um let's go! You've been staring into space ever since I got out of the bathroom. I want to watch these movies today you know?"

"Oh… right, let's go."

Jade rolled her eyes at Vega once more and sighed as she dragged her out of her house and into her car once again. This time the ride was slightly uncomfortable as Jade was still thinking about the situation with her dad. She really had no intention of interacting with him because the amount of lectures she got on how much of a waste her schooling and dreams were was enough to make Jade never want to talk to him at all. But she did care about her mom, and she wanted her to have a relationship with her father, so she would at least talk to him on the phone, but really, she was not about to go and have dinner with him cause that would mean having to see him in person. She really didn't need the lecture she would for sure get on her appearance too, especially when his new wife was like some prissy debutante type with the little stupid dog she would carry everywhere. Yeah, no thank you. She was lost in her thoughts when they finally pulled up to Vega's house.

"Hey Jade?" Tori softly got her attention, slowly reaching her hand out to touch her on her forearm.

"Yeah Ve-Victoria?"

"Um are you okay? You've kind of just been staring for like the past two minutes and you've been really quiet the whole way here." Even though she wasn't looking at Tori, she could hear the concern in her voice.

"Yeah well it's none of your business is it?!" She couldn't help but snap at her. Her dad was a touchy subject in the best of times, and she really wasn't ready to open up to Tori about it even if Tori had managed to break more of Jade's walls than anyone. Beck had never known anything about her relationship with her father other than the fact that she didn't like him and that he didn't support her decisions. She somewhat regretted her harsh tone, but it was too late to do anything about it cause Beck had just pulled up with his truck.

"Hey!" He called to both of them, "This is perfect timing! I figured you guys would be ready by now and look! I was right!" He grinned at Tori, and it just made Jade clench her fists and grit her teeth as she made her way into Tori's home. She had already made the popcorn by the time Beck and Tori had gotten inside. She wondered what had taken so long, and slightly narrowed her eyes at Beck. This was going to be a tough night.

"Yeah so we're starting with the scissoring, obviously, so get ready. Here's some popcorn or whatever." She handed Tori the bowl, making sure to quickly grab the seat next to Tori leaving Beck on the other couch with a rather sour expression on his face. She glared at him, but it was rather useless as he was fairly used to her glares after dating her for so long. Yeah so intimidation wasn't going to work this time. She would just have to make sure to be glued to Tori's side the whole night.


	7. Chapter 6

Jade hadn't realized what a good idea it was to watch The Scissoring with Tori until it was five minutes into the movie and the pretty girl had just been killed off. Tori was now clenched to Jade's side with her face tucked into Jade's shoulder, and the grin on Jade's face was getting ridiculously big. If someone asked she would tell them that she really was just enjoying the movie, and anyone who knew her would buy that excuse in a heartbeat, but the truth was that Jade wasn't even really paying attention anymore. She did try to tone it down a bit though because she could feel Beck's piercing gaze and she didn't want him to figure out Jade's real intentions. She did, however, sneakily wrap her arm around Tori's waist, in just a way that Beck couldn't see it from his angle. Tori had shifted a bit at that, but it was only to get more comfortable. Okay so maybe tonight wouldn't be a complete bust.

It was halfway through the movie and she could tell Beck was getting restless. He was in no way paying attention to the movie and probably sulking because his opportunity was slipping through his fingers just like Jade wanted it to be. Jade was also getting somewhat restless because she really had to go to the bathroom, but she didn't want to lose her spot on the couch to Beck and she also didn't want to move out of the comfortable position she was in with Tori. All of a sudden she saw Beck sit up and then he was talking.

"Hey are you guys hungry? I'm hungry. Let's order pizza or something! Jade would you go order us a pizza please?"

"Why don't you do it?" Jade was now scowling at Beck. That good for nothing pretty boy was ruining everything!

"See I asked you, and if you remember from earlier today, Sikowitz said we had to say 'yes'… to _everything._" Jade groaned and as she carefully unwrapped herself from Tori she noticed there was a gleam in Beck's eye. That couldn't be good he was definitely up to something.

She narrowed her eyes at him as she said, "Fine, but I have to go to the bathroom first. What kind of pizza do you want Tori?" She softened her gaze when it landed on the girl.

"Oh um… Whatever you like is fine with me. But don't get any peppers I'm-"

"Allergic. I remember."

"How do you know that?" Beck asked her incredulously.

"It was only a few weeks ago. Someone messed up Tori's order so she couldn't eat her lunch. I think Andre shared something with you right Victoria?"

"Yes… he did." Tori was also now staring at her with a surprised expression. What? She had always paid attention when it came to Tori. Her excuse before had been so that she would know how best to annoy her, but in situations like this, it really came in handy.

"Right so I'll go order us just a pepperoni – that way everyone's good."

"I don't want pepperoni!" This came from Beck.

"Beck stop being difficult. You would always get pepperoni pizza. Now, if you don't stop being annoying I'll take my scissors and-"

"Jade! Just let it go and go order the pizza. Please? For me?" Gosh there couldn't be anyone on Earth that could say no to that pout and those eyes.

"Whatever." She rolled her eyes as she walked away, frustrated beyond belief with Beck.

She had taken a little bit of extra time in the bathroom to splash some cool water on her face and take some big breaths to relax. When she got out of the bathroom she noticed that Beck had changed seats and was now sitting very close to Tori and all the calmness she had just gathered while in the bathroom vanished. Her fists clenched and she gritted her teeth, but didn't say anything as she went into the kitchen to find the menu and number for the pizza place.

"Hello, Village Pizzeria. What can I get for you today?"

"Hi. Can I get an 18" Neapolitan with pepperoni? And could you make sure that no peppers go near it when you make it? My friend is very allergic."

"Yes of course! Is this for delivery?" Jade eyed Beck and then smirked.

"No we'll come to pick it up."

"Okay that's perfect. So that's one 18" Neapolitan with pepperoni and no traces of peppers right?

"Yup."

"Okay it will be ready in about 30 minutes. What's the name for the order?"

"Beck Oliver."

"Okay. Thank you for choosing Village Pizzeria! Have a great day!"

"Yeah, I will thanks. Bye."

"Bye."

Jade didn't give Beck any chance for argument and led straight into a question, "Beck, would you go pick up the pizza?"

"What? Why do I have to pick it up? Don't they do delivery?"

"They said the delivery boy is sick or something. They're expecting you – the order is under your name. They said it would be finished in about 30 minutes so you should go soon, cause I ordered from Village Pizzeria."

"Why would you order from there? Domino's is much closer."

"Well it's obviously because Village has the best pizza. I hate Dominos."

"But we always used to get Domino's!"

"Exactly."

"You know what? Fine! I'll get the stupid pizza."

"It's not like you could have said no," Jade gave him a sweet smile that they both knew was fake. It was like they were having a silent war that Tori had no idea about. Although Beck probably didn't think it was because she wanted Tori too, "and anyways, you were the one who suggested it in the first place, so you should be the one to pick it up."

Beck had reluctantly gotten up from his seat beside Vega, and grumpily walked out of the Vega household to go pick up the pizza. Jade was happy with her ingenious decision to send Beck out. Now she would get some alone time with Tori. Maybe she could get up the courage to ask her out.

Tori had ignored the whole argument between Jade and Beck probably because that was what she was used to doing when they had still been dating. They always got into arguments and all her friends knew not to try to help because they would either just make it worse, or get caught in the middle somehow. Jade once again took her seat beside Tori and as the final character in the movie died, Tori yet again buried her face into Jade's shoulder. She wrapped her arms around Tori's shoulders and smiled as a sense of warmth and comfort ran through her.

Tori's then spoke, her voice muffled, but Jade could still make it out, "Jade? Could we maybe do anything else than watch this movie? I really don't want to get night mares."

"It's pretty much over anyways Victoria. But I guess when this one's over we can do something else. I was planning on putting the second one in, but it's fine."

"Thank goodness! I didn't want to say anything before, but I really need to sleep tonight! The Moonlight Jam is tomorrow, and I want to make sure that I'm really ready for it."

"You do? Why would that be?"

"I'm just really nervous about it."

"Why? You always do really well."

"Oh, I always get a certain amount of nerves when I perform at first, but I'm just really nervous about after my song."

"After your song…? What's happening after your song?"

"Um I can't really tell you right now. It's supposed to be a surprise."

"Whatever." Jade was annoyed that Tori wasn't going to tell her. She could hear the determination in Tori's voice and knew that no amount of bugging her about it would get it out of her. She also didn't want to seem too interested, because she was somewhat nervous about tomorrow too, and she didn't want the questions to then be turned on herself. Jade didn't move her arm from around Tori's shoulders even when the movie stopped playing, but reached onto the coffee table with her free hand to turn the tv off. She then turned to Tori, "Okay it's over now. So what did you want to do?"  
Tori's lifted her head but made no move to get out of Jade's embrace, and instead slid her arm around her waist.

"Um we could play the question game. You know, like you ask me a question and then I ask you one… there's still a lot I don't know about you."

"Hmm… I guess I'd be okay with that then. But you go first. I need to think of a question."

"Okay, I'll make it an easy one to start. When was your first kiss and who was it with?"

"Um I think it was seventh grade. Jared King cornered me after gym class by the locker rooms. I punched him afterward."

"Not surprised there." Tori laughed and Jade sat there a moment listening to the beautiful sound. She was a little dazed and it showed when Tori brought her out of her trance.

"Hey Jade?"

"Hmm… yeah?"

"It's your turn."

"Oh right. Um same for you then."

"It was in the summer when I was 13 and it was with a boy from my old school. His name was Skylar James. It was his first kiss too and it was very awkward and kinda slobbery. Kinda put me off of boys for a while. I don't think I kissed another one until two years later. Anyways, um do you like dogs or cats?"

"Neither. I like bunnies."

"Seriously? I would have guessed dogs. Who knew the big bad Jade West loved fluffy cute little bunnies?" Tori teased.

"Hey! I'm still a bad ass. Whatever, I don't care. You can't say that you don't love them too. How can you look at one's face and hate it?"

"I never said I didn't love them too."

"Good. Cause I have one."

"Really? What's its name?"

"You can save that for your next question. It's my turn now."

"Right sorry. Go ahead."

"What is your favourite colour?"

"Oh that's a tough one. Depends on the day kind of. I really like Red, but purple is pretty awesome too. So what's your bunny's name?"

"His name is Fenix. Spelled F-e-n-i-x. He's named after a character from Gears of War."

"Cool. I like it."

"Yeah I got him while I was in a Gears of War stage... So… If you didn't have acting or singing as a career, what would you want to be?"

"I would probably be a psychiatrist because I like helping people with their problems and I like to think I'm a pretty good listener too."

"Yeah I can see that. You'd be a good one." Tori looked a little taken aback at Jade's compliment but didn't make it a big deal, to which Jade was very thankful.

"Thanks Jade. Um… what… why… w-what's up with your dad? Like… why don't you like him?" Jade stiffened and shifted out of the position she was in with Tori and shuffled over to the other side of the couch.

"No! Next question."

"You can't skip questions! That's a rule!"

"Well you should have told me that at the beginning! I wouldn't have agreed to play this stupid game." Jade was angry. Was this the only reason why Tori wanted to play? To get the dish on the situation with her father?

"Well it is a rule, so you have to answer it."

"I'm not going to Vega. You can ask me something different. I'm not going to be one of your 'psychiatrist' projects. You can't fix me."

"That's not why I want to know!"

"Oh really? Then why do you want to know?"

"Because I care about you and I want to help."

"See! You do want to fix me."

"That's not what I meant by that! I just want you to be happy and I can see you're not with your dad."

"Vega. I'm gonna say this only once, so listen up. You don't know me, so you don't know what I feel about my dad, and frankly, my situation with my dad is none of your business. I'm putting in The Scissoring 2." Jade got up without looking at Tori and put in the movie, taking a seat on the other couch when she was done. She stared at the tv pretending to focus on the movie, but her mind was just going over what had just happened. She didn't really mean to be so harsh with Tori, but she just couldn't get herself to open up about that situation. Her situation with her dad was a very sensitive one. A lot of things had happened with him, and she was not at all ready to tell Vega anything about it than what she already knew, which was that he wasn't supportive of her chosen career. This night really wasn't going very well. It was in that moment that Beck made it back with the pizza. Jade was actually grateful for this, the tension in the room becoming too stifling for her. She noticed the grin that Beck had as he noticed that she wasn't sitting beside Tori and that he could reclaim the seat next to her.

"Pizza's here!"

"Perfect. Thank you Beck. I'll go get the plates and the drinks. What would you like to drink Beck?"

"Umm you have pink lemonade right?"

"Sure do!"

Tori had come back from the kitchen with two glasses of pink lemonade and surprised Jade by handing her a Wahoo Punch. Jade had been annoyed that Tori hadn't asked her what she wanted to drink, but just figured she was being ignored because of the conversation they had just had. But no, Tori didn't ask because somehow she knew that Jade liked Wahoo Punch. Jade was kicking herself even more now because of the way she had snapped at Tori. She still wouldn't have told her just yet, but she could have been nicer in dodging the question. She tried to capture Tori's eyes to be able to say thanks, but Tori wasn't paying attention, just getting her pizza and sitting back down to watch the rest of the movie.

Beck was now comforting Tori as they watched the rest of the movie, Jade getting angrier by the second, mostly at herself. Not only had she messed up with Tori, but now Beck was thinking he had more of a chance with her, and Jade was thinking that he probably actually did at this point. Tori and Beck as a couple would make way more sense than Tori and Jade as a couple. He was very good looking too and a lot nicer than she was, so it would not surprise her at all if Tori and Beck started dating. She was just stewing in all these negative thoughts and there was a montage of Tori and Beck being all couple-y running through her head. Her confidence in asking Tori out was fast dwindling, and she really just wanted to leave now.

Surprisingly, the second movie had ended before Jade had even managed to pay attention at all, and now she was realizing that Beck and Tori were talking about something they were doing tomorrow.

"Yeah so I'll see you tomorrow about that then Beck."

"Yeah it's totally no problem! I'm really sorry, but I actually have to go now. My mom needs me to help her with her plants or something. Hey Tori, um could you walk me to my truck?"

"Sure thing Beck."

They both left and Jade was still sitting there in the same spot, with all kinds of scenarios on what Beck was planning with Tori and what they were doing outside right now going through her head. She was getting frustrated with herself as her head conjured up more and more ridiculous things, so she decided just to go and see for herself, and snuck outside to watch.

From where she was standing she could only see Beck. His truck was parked on the side of the road, and they were both standing by Becks driver side door, but Beck was in front of Tori, and Tori was too short for Jade to be able to see her. They were clearly talking and Jade was about to go back inside thinking that she didn't want to get caught and that she was being stupid, but then she saw Beck move forward and lean down towards Tori. Her eyes widened as she realized he was going to kiss her. She didn't want to watch that, so she stormed back inside and started pacing in Tori's living room.

It felt like an eternity before Tori came back inside and Jade tried to read her expression, but it was kind of difficult and Jade's mind had pretty much gone on one track anyways.

"Jade? Are you okay?"

"No."

"Well what's wrong? Did something happen?"

"Yeah I would say something did happen." She gritted out, her eyes flashing dangerously at Tori. She had thought she had this whole situation figured out. She'd ask Tori out and everything would work out great. To have this all turn on her was making it so she couldn't think straight. Her mind was all jumbled up from the past hour and a half of events.

"Jade? Would you please tell me what happened?"

"You kissed Beck. That's what happened. I thought we were done with this! I didn't think he would have a chance, especially after you turned him down when the Platinum Awards were going. Ugh I can't believe you kissed him!"

"What? Jade you're really not making sense."

"I'm not making sense? I'm not – Tori, I just saw you and Beck outside just now kissing! How's that for not making sense!"

"Okay I really don't know what to say to you Jade. Except that we didn't kiss."

"Yes you did!"

"No we didn't"

"I just saw it Tori. Don't lie to me!"

"I'm not lying Jade. We really didn't kiss."

"Okay. Then what was that outside just now?"

"Not that it's really any of your business, Jade, but Beck was talking to me about tomorrow, and then all of a sudden he was leaning towards me to kiss me."

"HA! See!"

"You didn't let me finish Jade." It seemed Tori was getting frustrated if the change in tone was anything to go by.

"He leaned in to kiss me but I stopped him."

"Why would you stop him? You like him."

"Why don't you tell me why you care so much."

"Because I don't want you going out with Beck."

"Why not? What's so wrong with going out with him?"

"See! I knew you liked him!"

"Would you stop saying that Jade? Could you just answer my question? What's the real reason you don't want me going out with Beck?"

"Cause I car– um h-he's not as amazing as everyone thinks he is you know? So I don't know why you like him so much."

"Seriously Jade? Stop dodging the question! Would you just stop being so closed off with me? It's ridiculously frustrating. You're like hot and cold all the time! I finally think we're getting somewhere and then you just shut down and you put your walls up and you act all snarky. You can trust me Jade. I care about you and what you feel."

"Stop trying to be all psychiatristy on me!"

"Okay first of all, I'm not trying to be, and second of all, 'psychiatristy' is not a word. Now I regret ever telling you about that. Could you just tell me what you want? I don't want to play these guessing games anymore Jade."  
Jade just stood there with Tori's pleading eyes staring straight into her soul. But if that was the case, then Tori would just know what she wanted. She couldn't say it, she chickened out. Her theories on Beck and Tori were taking up all the space in her brain and she couldn't take that chance on being rejected. She wasn't very good with words anyways, so she probably would just make this situation a lot worse. So instead she grabbed her bag off the couch, not even caring that her copies of The Scissoring 1 and 2 were still by the DVD player, and just got out of Tori's house as fast as she could.

She was breathing heavily as she drove back to her house, not even fully paying attention to her driving and when she drove into her driveway she couldn't remember how she'd even gotten there safely. She banged her head against the steering wheel a few times, and then dejectedly walked inside her house.

Her mom was in their living room reading a book, and she didn't even stop to take her boots off, just dropped her bag and climbed into her mom's lap and threw her arms around her. Her mom didn't hesitate to hug her back.

"Jadelyn honey, what's the matter." She groaned, and lifted her head back and looked into her mom's loving face with tears brimming unshed.

"I've made a mess of things mom."

"Well, what happened?"

"It's about my crush."

"Is it Tori that you like?"

"Yeah. How'd you know?"

"Honey, I could see it in the way you were looking at her earlier. That, and the fact that it was so easy to embarrass you in front of her and you didn't want me to say anything about your crush. I kind of put two and two together."

"Yeah well, you were right. It's Tori."

"I'm glad, she seems like such a lovely girl, and I think she'll be really good for you. Much better than that Beck boy in any case. I don't know why you stayed with him so long."

"Ugh I don't want to hear about Beck right now. I don't know what I was thinking either!"

"Why don't you want to hear about Beck?"

"Well, it's because of what just happened while I was at Tori's."

"Okay, maybe you should start at the beginning. You've been acting weird this whole week, and we haven't had a chance to properly talk yet, so start filling me in."

"Okay. But can we maybe get some coffee first? It's a bit of a long story, and I need something to calm me down anyways."

"What? My hugs aren't good enough for you?"

"That's not what I meant!"

"I know Jadelyn. I was teasing. You should take your boots off anyways. You're going to track mud all through our house."

"Fine."

"Good, I'll go into the kitchen to start the coffee."

It didn't take long for Jade to join her mother, and they were soon back in the living room with their mugs of steaming coffee, and Jade was preparing to launch into the story of how her week had been going. It didn't take as long as Jade thought it would to tell her story, but by the end she was realizing how very idiotic she was being.

"Oh Jadelyn, you really did make a mess of things."

"Wow mom, way to make your daughter feel better."

"I'm just being honest honey."

"I know… and you're right, I am an idiot." She was now dejectedly staring at her empty mug.

"You're not an idiot. You just have to make sure you fix things tomorrow."

"But how?"

"Well, didn't you say the Moonlight Jam was tomorrow? I know you're bad with words, so why don't you just sing her your feelings. You do have such a lovely voice."

"But what if she likes Beck? They were talking about doing something tomorrow, and what if he asked her out! I mean, yeah, she told me that she didn't kiss him, but what if she's waiting for their first date or something."

"Honey you keep telling her that she likes Beck, but she not once showed it, from what you tell me, and she also never told you herself that she did. You need to take your own words into account and stop telling her what she feels. I can tell that she likes you too Jade, and I know that it's scary telling someone you like them because you're making yourself vulnerable, and I know you've had issues with that in the past, but honey, if you don't, you'll really regret it. You'll keep wondering what if, and you'll make yourself even more depressed than you have been. That girl makes you happy. It makes you act like the Jade that I knew before your father left and that is a wonderful thing. You need to take the risk honey."

"Okay. Let's say I do. What should I sing?"

"I can't answer that for you. They're _your_ feelings, so _you_ need to come up with something."

"Alright… I guess you're right."

"I'm always right, I'm your mother after all." Her mom's tone was light, and she could tell she was teasing her again.

"Yeah, whatever. I'm going to go upstairs and get ready for bed. I'll try to think of something before I fall asleep."

"Okay. Don't stay up too late, you need to get some rest for your big day tomorrow. I love you Jadelyn," her mom kissed her on her forehead, "and I know that everything is going to be fine."

"I love you too mom. Thanks for everything."

"You're welcome dear. Now, up to bed!"

"I'm going, I'm going!" She laughed and climbed the stairs to her room, her mind already going through a number of different songs, trying to find the right one. She laid in her bed with her headphones on skimming through a bunch of different songs. There were a few that could work, but none that were great. Then she realized that she couldn't say everything in just one song, but there were two she could sing that would hopefully get everything she needed to say across to Tori. She finally fell asleep satisfied and with a smile on her face ready to face tomorrow.

* * *

After Jade had ran out, Tori had slowly made her way to her couch. At first she was really angry and frustrated at Jade. Why couldn't she just tell Tori the truth! She didn't even really care that she wouldn't tell her about the situation with her dad, but she thought that maybe she would get a short answer and that maybe it would help Jade to trust her more and slowly build up to the whole problem. Tori wasn't lying when she told Jade she cared about her and didn't want to "fix" her problems. She couldn't do that anyways. She just wanted Jade to be able to trust her with the bigger things happening in her life so that she could support her and be able to comfort her and maybe offer some advice at times if she was asked. She didn't know why Jade was always running from the truth. They were so close, and Tori wasn't going to let Jade slip through her fingers just because she was scared or something. She was thinking through the night and all that had happened. Her anger slowly disappeared and even though she was still frustrated about the whole thing and the dance they had been doing around each other, she came to a realization. She hadn't ever outright told Jade that she had absolutely no interest in Beck. She was almost as bad as Jade with not telling her what she wanted. She was determined to fix this, and knew exactly how to do that.

She ran upstairs and grabbed her notebook, ready to write all her feelings into a song. It actually didn't take as long as she expected, and when she was happy with it she called Andre so he could help her with the accompaniment. He grumbled about how late it was, but she just reminded him of the time he had crashed at her house for a few days writing and playing the piano way into the night. He quickly acquiesced and in 10 minutes time, Tori heard a knock on the door. Rushing to open it, she found a tired looking Andre. They got right to work, and after Andre had read over her lyrics, he didn't find it hard to write the music along to it on the piano. He had the perfect voice to back her up too. By the time they were done it was quite late, so she told Andre to sleep on the couch and offered him the left over pizza. She left him downstairs and she went up to her room, quickly getting ready for bed. It didn't take long at all for her to get to sleep, really excited about the next day and hopeful that she would finally be able to call Jade hers.

* * *

AN: I might not be able to update this very soon because I have three exams this week and a paper due next, so sorry about that. Hopefully all goes well in the next chapter for these two ;) I hope you guys are enjoying this, so read and review! I also have another story of these two that's more of a one shot, and it's pretty close to finished, so I might be able to put that up before the end of the week, we'll see. Thanks!

IsirisRose


	8. Chapter 7

Jade woke up with a slight feeling of anxiety. This was the big day, and she had to be at her best. She wouldn't let her thoughts run away with her today. She was going to tell Tori even if it was scary and there was a slight possibility that Tori actually did like Beck. It didn't matter because if she didn't, she would hate herself forever. It was going to be fine, all evidence pointed to Tori liking her back, so the negative thoughts in the back of her head would just have to be ignored. She wouldn't let them take over like she did yesterday. Even though she would be singing songs that she normally wouldn't be caught dead singing, it was all going to be okay. She just hoped Tori got the message she was trying to say in her songs. It didn't matter, she would make sure Tori knew about her feelings by the end of today no matter what because the potential of being with Tori was much greater than the potential downside of telling her and getting rejected or not telling her at all. With those last thoughts, Jade got up and out of bed to get ready for the day.

She smiled at herself in the mirror of her bathroom and after double-checking the she looked good in her outfit, she nodded her head, and strutted out of the bathroom and made her way downstairs. Cause really, she always looked good in her outfits. She had specifically worn a dress that Tori had complemented before, and it also just happened to have red flowers on the top part, which now matched perfectly with her hair. She had decided that she really liked the red, and she was going to dye some streaks into it permanently.

She could hear her mom in the kitchen as she made her way down the stairs, and was happy that she had finally had a talk with her. It was exactly what she needed, and she couldn't believe that she had forgotten how good it was to talk to her mother about the things she was struggling with. She walked into the kitchen and gratefully grabbed the cup of coffee that her mom handed her.

"How are you feeling this morning honey?"

"Better than yesterday. I'm still a little nervous, but I can do this. Tori is totally worth it."

"You're right about that one honey. She really makes you happy. I can tell." They smiled at each other, and then her mom handed her an apple.

"You better get going Jadelyn or you're going to be late. Just take some deep breaths, and remember that you'll be fine, and that she's going to love the songs you sing to her."

"I know. Thanks mom, I'll see you later!"

"Good luck!" Her mom yelled as Jade grabbed her keys and rushed out to her car.

The first thing Jade noticed when she walked into Hollywood Arts that morning was Tori talking to Beck. She vaguely remembered them talking about doing something today and she gritted her teeth at the smile she saw on Beck's face. He had his stupid flirty face on – the one that he always used when he wanted to get girls to go out with him. She rushed over to her locker, desperately trying to keep herself calm, and not read too much into the situation. She had just closed her locker door and was turning around to walk to her next class, but jumped when she saw Tori standing behind her.

"Jade? Could I um talk to you for a sec?"

"Sure Victoria. Um walk me to class?"

"Well since we have the same one… sure." She said it with a smile so Jade knew she was teasing. Jade relaxed a bit, realizing that Tori couldn't be completely mad at her for last night.

"I brought you your movies back, since you left so quick last night." Or maybe she was a bit mad. Jade gulped and sheepishly accepted the movies Tori was handing her, actually relieved to be getting them back since these were her favourite movies of all time.

"Thanks… about last night…. Look, I didn't really mean to run out so fast, and I know that you like Beck and all, but-"

"Jade! Would you stop saying I like Beck? You keep telling me who I like, and if I remember a conversation we had just _yesterday _correctly, you said something to me about not telling you how you feel. So please, stop assuming things and telling me how I feel."

"Right. Sorry about that. My mom told me not to do that too. I just forgot, and then this morning I saw you talking to him, and I guess I just jumped to conclusions." She stared at the ground, feeling like kicking herself for doing the exact thing she had just said she wouldn't. Ugh, she was still messing up. She just got so irrationally jealous sometimes, and with the uncertainty of what going to happen tonight, it was really hard for her to remain calm. She also knew that Beck really wanted Tori to go out with him.

"It's fine. Just so you know, Beck was going to help me with an acting scene today. I'm trying out for this musical and I needed someone to help me run lines. The opposite part is for a guy, so I figured Beck would be able to help the best." They had reached their classroom by that time and were just lingering outside the door now. Jade looked up at Tori then and noticed she was smiling at her, "um maybe we should continue this later…"

"Yeah, class is starting soon anyways, so I guess that's fine." Jade said and felt slightly relieved, suddenly feeling a little awkward and not knowing what to say.

"Okay good." They both walked in and took their seats.

Jade didn't see either Tori or Beck at lunch, but she didn't let that bother her, now knowing what they were really up to, and actually being happy that something more wasn't going on between them. She really should have known that all along though. Tori had the opportunity to go out with Beck before, and hadn't taken it so she wasn't likely to now. She was a little disappointed that Tori wasn't at lunch though, somehow missing her happy and bubbly personality. Lunch just seemed a bit quieter even though Cat was talking to Robbie non-stop. She realized that she just missed Tori. She really had it bad if she couldn't even go two hours without seeing Tori before missing her.

For some reason the rest of the day seemed to fly by and before Jade knew it, the end of the day came and she was walking out to her car. She was slightly in a daze, thinking all about how in a few hours she would be singing her heart out to Tori. Just as she was about to hop into her Mustang, she noticed Tori pacing while talking on her phone. She edged a bit closer, trying not to be too obvious about listening in to her conversation.

"Ugh Trina! Why would you leave without me? I _told_ you I was just going to be two minutes! Why do you always do this to me?" She paused, clearly listening to whatever Trina was saying back.

"Walk home? Walk ho- Trina! Do you know how many creepers I could come across when I 'walk home'? Seriously, come and get me!" She noticed Tori's clenching her fists, clearly very mad at Trina now.

"I don't care what you're putting on your face right now! Come. Get. Me!" Tori had now stopped pacing, staring at her phone now.

"She hung up! That stupid gank hung up on me!" Tori was now talking to herself. Jade figured this would be the most opportune time to talk to Tori.

"Hey Victoria."

"Oh Jade. Didn't see you there."

"Yeah, um I heard a bit of the end of your conversation. You want a ride home?"

"_You're_ offering _me_ a ride home?"

"Yeah well, if you don't want it, that's fine. But you better hurry up and decide, I'm leaving right now." She started walking backwards to her car as she finished talking to Tori, then turned around smirking as she knew Tori would follow.

"Hey wait! Jade!"

"Come on then Victoria, I don't have all day."

"Okay, okay." She ran towards Jade, falling in to step with her as they walked towards Jade's car.

They both got in, and Jade pulled out of the parking lot, turning up the radio a bit as a song she liked came on.

"Um Jade, thanks for this. I know my house is kinda out of your way."

"Yeah well, it sucks that you have such an annoying and selfish sister, so… just don't tell anyone."

"Right… So, are you singing in the Moonlight Jam tonight?"

"I am."

"Yeah, me too."

"Great." Jade was feeling herself revert back to her usual ways with Tori, mostly because she didn't really know what to say. Tori made her unusually nervous. She wasn't even this nervous when she started dating Beck, and that was when they were actually on a date. She was just driving Tori home. She just didn't want to say the wrong things, noticing that the past few conversations with Tori didn't exactly go the way she hoped. She decided to break the silence a bit.

"Um yeah, I'm actually kind of nervous about tonight."

"Oh? Why would you be nervous? You're never nervous, you're Jade West."

"Yeah, well I do. Especially because of what's going to happen tonight."

"What's happening tonight?"

"Um I can't really tell you. Just make sure that you're there okay?"

"I already told you yesterday that I would be."

"Oh. Right… I remember." Jade didn't look at Tori the whole ride, really trying to keep her cool. She was relieved when they finally made it to Tori's house and she drove into Tori's driveway.

"Well thanks for the ride Jadelyn. By the way, I'm really glad you're going to be there tonight."

"Why?"

"Cause I'm singing a song for you." With that, Tori winked and exited the car, leaving Jade just staring at where she was, trying to process what Tori had just said. Shaking her head and bringing herself out of her trance, she reversed out of Tori's driveway, making her way towards her own house.

She walked into her quiet and empty house, remembering that her mom had to work late tonight and went up to her room where she flopped onto her bed. So, they were both going to be singing to each other tonight. She wondered what Tori's song was going to be about. She decided that she should just take a nap before she could over think anything, and to also pass the time in between now and when she would be singing faster. She made sure to set two alarms just in case and to give herself enough time to get ready.

When she woke up again she was feeling much more calm and also a little hungry. She found her mother had left a note for her on the kitchen counter telling her there was some food in the fridge she could warm up for her dinner. There was also a line of encouragement and an 'I love you Jadelyn' tagged to the bottom which Jade appreciated. Even though she had some major issues with her father and him accepting her, she could always count on her mother's support, but it didn't hurt to hear it every once in a while.

She heated up the food her mom had left and ate it while watching an episode of 1000 Ways to Die. Once it ended she got up to get ready, remembering she'd told Andre she'd help with some of the set up tonight. She was actually grateful that she had because it would provide a very welcome distraction until the time for her performance came. She made sure she had everything she needed, and then hopped into her car, glad that it was now dark out while she drove to Hollywood Arts. She was about five minutes away from the school when she noticed a display of flowers in front of a shop. She made a split second decision and pulled the car over right in front of the store. Tori would love some stupid romantic gesture like Jade giving her a rose, and even though it went completely against Jade's personality, she got out of her car to go buy her one. She even made sure to get one of those plastic-y things that had water in them to keep it fresh and so it wouldn't die before she could give it to Tori. Jade made sure to carefully place the flower on the seat next to her and drove the short distance to the school.

She walked into the Asphalt Café and noticed that Andre had already started hooking up all the mics and other instruments, and that they were just about ready for the sound check.

"Hey Jade! Thanks for coming early to help."

"Whatever. What needs to be done?" Andre didn't even blink at Jade's harsh tone and just replied in his usual happy manner.

"You actually came at the perfect time. We need to do a sound check, so would you mind starting with the mic's and then do the drums?" Andre was one of the few people that knew that Jade was actually quite good at the drums. It made her happy to be able to hit things, and if she could make music out of that, so much the better.

"Sure."

She started with the mic on the left, and then moved her way over, making sure she could hear each of them properly in the monitors on the stage. Nothing was worse than not being able to hear yourself or the other members of the band. It could make someone who usually sounded amazing go completely flat and be out of sync with the band, and could ruin a performance without the person performing even knowing. When she was done with all the microphones, Andre played the few guitars that were on stage, Sinjin taking over the sound booth. She set herself down in front of the drum set just as Andre finished with the last guitar. She checked to see that all the mics were properly set up for the drums as she played a beat and tested each drum and cymbal. She slipped down into a half time beat but something was just off. She motioned for Andre to grab her a mic so that she could talk to Sinjin.

"Okay this sounds horrible! I can't hear the drums in the monitor, turn me up a little."

"Sure, I would love to turn you up a little." Ugh why did Sinjin have to be so creepy? It was starting to frustrate her even more. The sound needed to be perfect for tonight.

"Just turn the drums up you mop-headed freak!" Sinjin and the rest of the geeky sound guys he had been smiling and giving high fives to, cringed and jumped back, doing exactly what she wanted. She rolled her eyes, and tested out the drums once more, a smile finally adorning her face at the sound coming out now.

"Okay Andre, I think we're good with everything then."

"Thanks so much Jade."

"Yeah whatever."

She wandered to the back of the stage, thinking about how her performance would go tonight. After making sure that everything was in order on the stage, she went back to her car, retrieving the rose she had bought for Tori. She wanted to put it backstage so that she could give it to Tori as soon as she was finished singing.

"Whatcha got there Jade?" Andre was looking at her curiously.

"None of your business!"

"Well, in any case, I'm sure Tori's gonna love it."

"Ugh. Why do you think it's for Tori?"

"She tell you she's singing a little somethin' for you tonight?"

"Um yeah. Why?"

"You'll see. Good luck with tonight Jade." She pretended not to be affected by Andre's words and didn't even answer him as she walked away to put the rose backstage for later. Now all she could think about was what Tori had planned for her. It didn't matter anyways, she would still be singing her songs for Tori regardless of what Tori sang to her.

Jade spent the time waiting for the Moonlight Jam to start by doing some vocal exercises. It was reinforced to her how important warming up her voice was when her cousin got diagnosed with nodes last year. So she made sure she always warmed up before a performance since she hoped to make singing part of her career one day. While she had been warming up, the Asphalt Café had progressively started filling up more and more. She sought Andre out to ask him when she would be performing. Unfortunately, she noticed him talking to Tori, and she felt a wave of nervous energy wash over her once again. She was torn because she wanted to know when she was performing, but she didn't think she could be around Tori before her performance. Seeing her also put a smile on her face however, so she steeled her nerves and put her head up as she walked up to them. Thank God she had had so much practice putting on an uncaring attitude and the fact that she was an actress didn't hurt either.

"Hey Andre, Victoria." She glanced at Tori and sent a smirk her way at the beaming smile she saw Tori had.

"Hey Jadelyn. You ready for tonight?"

"Yeah I think so. Actually, that's why I'm over here. Could you tell me when I'm on Andre?" She wondered if she would be singing before Tori or after.

"Sure Jade." He glanced down at the clipboard that Jade only just noticed he was holding. Actually it was really the first time she had really looked at him since walking up to the pair.

"You are on right at 11. Two songs right?"

"Yeah that's right."

"Hey that's perfect! You're on right after I am." It seemed Tori and Andre were sharing knowing glances, but she was too flustered to figure out why.

"Why is that perfect?"

"Oh you'll see." Tori winked at her. What?

"You two are both being secretive and weird." She walked away after that, looking for Cat to make sure she was ready for their performance. She had found the girl earlier that day and asked her to back her up for one of her songs. She had sung with Cat before, and their voices really worked well together, plus Cat could do some amazing things with her voice.

"Cat!" She yelled as she spotted the girl twirling in spot as she talked to Robbie.

"Jadey!"

"What have I told you about calling me that?" She angrily spit back.

"Umm I don't remember..." She narrowed her eyes at Cat, knowing that she knew very well what she had said, and that Jade hated that nickname.

"Whatever. I'll let it go this time, but only because you promised to help me with my performance. You remember everything for it right?"

"Yup!" Cat perkily replied. Jade just rolled her eyes at Cat's behaviour, not understanding how someone could be this perky all the time, and this late at night too.

"We're on at 11, right after Vega, so make sure you're back there and ready to go before she's done singing."

"Oh my God! That's perfect!"

"What is so perfect about me performing right after Tori?"

"Nothing!" Her reply was way too quick for her not to know something and the way Cat was squirming and looking anywhere but at Jade wasn't helping her case either.

"Cat." She said forcefully, knowing that Cat knew she wasn't playing around.

"I can't tell you. But you'll find out soon enough. Oh! Robbie's about to go on, so I need to go, I promised him I would watch."

"You can watch from here." Jade trailed off as Cat had already bounded away from her before she was finished her sentence. She sighed, once again finding herself alone and wondering what to do to distract her until the time to perform would come. She figured listening to the less talented people that were singing before her would be as good a way to pass time as anything and it would also serve to bring up her confidence, as she knew she could sing better than most of them. Robbie's performance was actually quite entertaining and funny, but decidedly quite weird, which was nothing new really for Robbie. That poor boy had had a crush on Cat for so long, and he was probably ecstatic that Cat was in the front row cheering him on right now, but if Jade's suspicions were correct, then he wouldn't be too happy for long. She was pretty sure Melissa and Cat had a thing for each other, and from the way both of them had been acting lately, it wasn't going to be too long before they would be together.

All of a sudden it was like time had just flown by, because the next thing Jade knew, Tori and Andre were smirking at each other as they both climbed up onto the stage. Jade found herself fidgeting and anxious, way too excited than she would care to admit for what Tori had planned for her. Tori confidently strutted up to the mic that was set up center stage, and beamed at the crowd, searching through it until she locked eyes with Jade.

"Hey everybody, how are you doing tonight?" The students in the crowd cheered and Tori's smile got even brighter, but that could have been because Jade was now smiling at Tori, always awed at the amount of confidence and stage presence Tori had.

"Great! I'm glad all of you are having a wonderful time tonight! I'm going to be singing this next song, backed up by the wonderful Andre Harris everyone." Tori turned to the side slightly and gestured to Andre, who bowed slightly as he stood at the keyboard.

"I wrote this one myself, and it's for a special someone." Tori once again locked eyes back with Jade, and followed her with her eyes as Jade moved closer towards the stage.

"I hope you all like it." She said it to the crowd, but it felt to Jade as if she had specifically said it to her. She nodded at Andre, who started playing as he beamed at Tori and Jade. Jade didn't really notice, because her focus was taken completely by Tori. Tori's voice was as beautiful as Jade knew it would be, but she made sure not to just get caught up in that, but to really listen to the lyrics Tori had written to her.

_The situation turned around,_

_enough to figure out_

_That someone else has let you down,_

_so many times_

_I don't know why _

_But I know we can make it, _

_As long as you say it_

She saw a flicker of nervousness in Tori's eyes as she led into the chorus, but she never broke eye contact with Jade.

_So tell me that you love me, yeah_

_And tell me that I take your breath away_

_And maybe if you take one more, then I would know for sure_

_There's nothing left to say,_

_So tell me that you love me anyway_

Even if she had never told Tori what it was she exactly wanted, Tori was telling her right now herself and it seemed they were on the same page. Jade was now gaining more confidence about the songs she was about to sing back to Tori.

_So tell me that you love me anyway_

_Whoa ohhh oh_

_Waking up beside yourself,_

_and what you feel inside_

_Is being shared with someone else, _

_nowhere to hide,_

_I don't know why_

_But I know we can make it, _

_As long as you say it_

_So tell me that you love me, yeah_

_And tell me that I take your breath away_

_And maybe if you take one more, then I would know for sure_

_There's nothing left to say,_

_So tell me that you love me anyway_

_Show me, look what we found, turn it around every day_

_I can hear what you say _

_Now I know why, know we can make it _

_If you tell me that you love me, yeah_

_And tell me that I take your breath away_

_And maybe if you take one more…_

_So tell me that you love me, yeah_

_And tell me that I take your breath away_

_Maybe if you take one more, then I would know for sure,_

_there's nothing left to say,_

_but tell me that you love me anyway_

By the end of the song, Jade could feel how much Tori was trusting in her and how much she believed in her and their potential relationship. Jade wasn't going to let her down. She had given a beaming smile to Tori as she walked past her switching places with the Latina. She still couldn't believe that Tori had written that song just for her, and it was such a beautiful one too. Andre's vocals really blended in well with Tori's.

She glanced behind her as she walked towards the mic, noticing Cat backstage, ready to come on for her second song. She beamed at Jade and gave her a thumbs up, and Jade gave a small smile back, gathering her courage for what she was about to do. Her first song was far from what she would have been caught normally singing, but it said what Jade needed it to, so Jade was ready to sing it anyways. Looking out into the crowd, she easily found Tori smiling back at her, and that was all she needed to forget the rest of the people in the crowd, and just sing her heart out to the one person that mattered.

"Um I didn't write this one myself, but hopefully this says what I need it to." She pointedly stared at Tori, hoping she knew it was for her. "oh, and Cat Valentine will be backing me up for my second song."

She closed her eyes and nodded, the band starting up soon after.

_I told myself today was gonna be the day,_

_no more excuses cause I knew exactly what to say._

_Was gonna make my play, but just like yesterday,_

_my mind erased, _

_and I let the moment slip away._

_Another night I'll be sitting here all on my own,_

_picking up the phone,_

_but I can't get past the dial tone._

_Racking my brain, going insane,_

_again and again, I can't keep going this way._

_Crushed _

_by the sweetest lips I've never kissed._

_And your fingertips and the warmest touch that I've always missed._

_Crushed _

_by the softest hands I've never held._

_Probably never tell, you're the strongest love that I ever felt._

_Crushed_

_that I haven't ever let you know_

_How it always goes_

_Cause I lose my nerve whenever you get close._

_And so I'm left, short of breath, with that heavy feeling in my chest._

_Baby I'm so crushed._

_So I tell myself that tomorrow's gonna be the day_

_and I keep on telling myself that I'm gonna find a way._

_And I won't be afraid just like yesterday,_

_won't walk away, never gonna let another chance slip away._

_Cause I've got to know, whichever way it's gonna go,_

_rest my heart and soul, cause there can never be no more._

_Racking my brain, going insane,_

_again and again, I won't keep going this way._

_Crushed _

_by the sweetest lips I've never kissed._

_And your fingertips and the warmest touch that I've always missed._

_Crushed _

_by the softest hands I've never held._

_Probably never tell, you're the strongest love that I ever felt._

_Crushed_

_that I haven't ever let you know_

_How it always goes_

_Cause I lose my nerve whenever you get close._

_And so I'm left, short of breath, with that heavy feeling in my chest._

_Baby I'm so crushed._

_Crushing, I'm so into you,_

_don't know what I'm gonna do,_

_gotta find a way to you._

_I don't know just what to do._

_Crushing, I'm so into you,_

_Don't know what I'm gonna do,_

_gotta find a way to you._

_Oh I'm Crushing, I'm so into you,_

_Don't know what I'm gonna do,_

_Gotta find a way to you._

_And so I'm left, short of breath, with that heavy feeling in my chest._

_Baby, I'm so crushed_

Cat quickly came out to the stage as the music faded, and Jade was grateful. This next one was a lot more upbeat and she was hoping Tori would know it was a bit of an apology about the past week and that it was simultaneously answering Tori's own song to her. Cat smiled at her once again, motioning she was ready, and Jade flicked a hand behind her back, the band starting up once again.

_Oh hohhhh woah oh_

_Let me tell ya now,_

_Ooooh mmmhhhmmm_

_When I had you to myself, I didn't want you around_

_Those pretty faces always made you stand out in a crowd_

_But someone picked you from the bunch, one glance was all it took_

_Now it's much too late for me to take a second look_

_Oh baby, give me one more chance_

_(To show you that I love you)_

_Won't you please let me _

_(back in your heart)_

_Oh darlin', I was blind to let you go_

_(Let you go, baby)_

_But now since I see you in his arms_

_(I want you back)_

_Yes I do now_

_(I want you back)_

_Ooh ooh baby_

_(I want you back)_

_Yeah yeah yeah yeah_

_(I want you back)_

_Na na na na_

_Trying to live without your love is one long sleepless night_

_Let me show you girl, that I know wrong from right_

_Every street you walk on, I leave tearstains on the ground_

_Following the girl I didn't even want around_

_Let me tell ya now_

_Oh baby, give one more chance_

_(To show you that I love you)_

_Won't you please let me _

_(back in your heart)_

_Oh darlin', I was blind to let you go_

_(Let you go, baby)_

_But now since I see you in his arms ohh oh_

_All I want..._

_All I need..._

_All I want!_

_All I need!_

_Oh, just one more chance_

_To show you that I love you_

_Baby (baby) baby (baby) baby!_

_(I want you back)_

_Forget what happened then_

_(I want you back)_

_And let me live again!_

_Oh baby, I was blind to let you go_

_But now since I see you in his arms_

_(I want you back)_

_Spare me of this cause_

_(I want you back)_

_Give me back what I lost!_

_Oh baby, I need one more chance, ha!_

_I tell you that I love you_

_Baby, (oh!) Baby, (oh!) Baby, (oh!)_

_I want you back!_

_I want you back!_

The crowd was up and cheering by the end of the song, but Jade could only see Tori and the wonderful smile that was on her face. She barely noticed when Cat left the stage only to reappear moments later, placing the rose in her hand with a small smirk. That shook Jade out of her daze, and she made her way down the stage towards where Tori was still standing.

"Um... hey Victoria."

"Jadelyn." Tori's eyes had a spark in them, and Jade just about couldn't breathe with how beautiful she looked right now in the moonlight.

"I got you this." She handed the rose over to Tori, and then stared at her feet, her nerves rising once again at the thought of what Tori would think about her gesture.

"It's beautiful Jade, just like you. Thank you." She looked up to see Tori still smiling at her and tenderly holding the rose.

"Do I have to say it? Or did you get it from my songs?"

"No I got it, but it would still be nice to hear it from you." Tori encouragingly said to her. "But if you want, I can say it first." Jade looked up to her gratefully, still having trouble expressing her feelings.

"I love you Jadelyn. And I would really like it if you would be my girlfriend." Jade's eyes widened, even though it was what she had hoped the outcome of the evening would be, she didn't think Tori would just come out and say it like that. It seemed so easy for her, and she was barely nervous up on the stage earlier too.

"I uh I love you too Vic. And I would love nothing more than to be your girlfriend." Tori barely let her finish her sentence before her lips were crashing into Jade's and despite the fact that she had told Cat that when they kissed it wouldn't be like the movies, it actually was. Jade felt like there were fireworks going on around them, and she smiled into the kiss, still not believing that this wonderful girl in front of her felt the same way as she did. They pulled away, just gazing into each others eyes.

"Hey Jade?"

"Uh yeah?"

"Did you just call me Vic?"

"Um… yes?"

"Okay."

"What?"

"It's just kinda nice. You're the only one who's ever called me that."

"Well I like it, and it was getting too annoying to have to say your full name all the time, although, it's a very beautiful name. I just think saying my girlfriend's name is Vic sounds much more bad ass than Tori." Tori's face lit up when she said the word girlfriend, and Jade had to admit, that it gave her heart a little jump to be able to finally call Tori that.

"What? That's ridiculous Jade."

"No it's not _Vic_. Come on, you love it."

"Okay fine I do. But then I get to call you Jadey. Cause then people will think you're all sweet."

"No!"

"Aww come on! Why not?"

"Babe, I'm not letting you call me that in public. I hate that nickname."

"Fine, I'll call you it when we're not in public, but I'll just find a better one for you then."

"But I like when you call me Jadelyn. It's just you and my mom that does it."

"Well I guess that's okay, since I do really like your name." They smiled at each other then, and it wasn't too long before they were kissing again, and Jade still wasn't used to the fact that she could do this now whenever she wanted. They finally broke apart, and Jade found herself with a permanent smile as she held Tori's hand and watched a few more performances. Before long though, she was getting bored. None of these people were as amazing as Tori was, or Jade for that matter, so she decided she wanted to leave.

"Hey, you want to come back to my house Vic? I'm sure my mom would love to know the news. You can even sleep over, and I'll take you to school tomorrow." She looked hopefully at her girlfriend beside her and Tori just smiled back, squeezing her hand.

"I would love to. Can we just stop at my house before we go? I want to grab some clothes for tomorrow and tell my parents where I am."

"Of course. Let's go now though, I can't stand to watch anymore of these performances."

"Why not? Aren't they up to your standards?" Tori said with a teasing tone.

"None of them are as good as you, obviously, so no. I'd rather spend my time with just you anyways." Tori smiled at that, and they both walked towards the parking lot, waving at Andre and Cat when they walked past them. They both had smirked at them when they looked at Jade and Tori's intertwined fingers. Just before she got to her car, Jade noticed Beck slumped in the corner with a sour look on his face and she turned to look at him fully. He glared at Jade but she just smirked back, happy that everything worked out the way she wanted. Tori tugged on Jade's hand, and she realized that she had actually stopped.

"Hey babe, why are you not walking?"

"Oh um, just saw Beck. He didn't seem too pleased that we were holding hands."

"Well, he'll get over it. I've already told him that I just want to be friends, and he had no chance anyways, so he really shouldn't be mad. Now, let's go! I want to watch a movie with you or something."

"Or something?" Jade smirked both at the words, and the fact that Jade had warned Beck that he had no chance, and she was right.

"Yeah, or something."

"Let's go then."

"Finally!" Jade rolled her eyes, pulling Tori closer to her as they made their way once again to Jade's Mustang. She opened the passenger side door for Tori, giving her a quick kiss before moving over to her own side. They happily held hands as Jade drove away from Hollywood Arts and towards Tori's house both so happy with the way the night went.

* * *

AN: Hey everyone! Sorry it took so long for this upload, university is so kicking my ass right now. Anyways, the songs I used were Tell Me That You Love Me by the Victorious Cast, Crushed by Elise Estrada, and I Want You Back cover of J5 by the Victorious Cast. Thanks for reading! :)

IsirisRose


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